William W. Murdoch (born 1939) is a Charles A. Storke II professor of population ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
[2] Over the years, his research has focused primarily on the subjects of population regulation, predator–prey dynamics, and biological control.
[3] He has also contributed extensively to understanding the scientific and socioeconomic ramifications caused by human overpopulation and environmental degradation.
William W. Murdoch received his Bachelor of Science degree in zoology (with honors) at the University of Glasgow.
Upon obtaining his doctorate in population ecology, Murdoch won a Guggenheim Fellowship that allowed him to undertake postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
[3][5] In 1965, Murdoch joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he has conducted research until the present.
[8] Poverty of Nations In The Poverty of Nations: the Political Economy of Hunger and Population, Murdoch concludes that populations are irresponsibly expanding in a finite world and that this has put the planet at risk of exhausting its resources and of destroying its fundamental life support systems.
He was prompted to work on the subject by an over accumulation of data that resulted from the public’s growing interest on environmental problems of the day.
This 1975 book demonstrates how Murdoch’s general theories on population ecology and environmental science were starting to shape up and presents an opportunity for comparison to later works and perspectives.