Robert T. Paine
E893609
Robert T. Paine was an American ecologist best known for pioneering the concept of keystone species and demonstrating the profound impact of top predators on ecosystem structure.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Robert T. Paine canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T10928889 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Robert T. Paine Context triple: [Tatoosh Island, hasNotableResearcherAssociated, Robert T. Paine]
-
A.
Robert H. MacArthur
Robert H. MacArthur was a pioneering American ecologist best known for his foundational work in community ecology and the theory of island biogeography.
-
B.
G. Evelyn Hutchinson
G. Evelyn Hutchinson was a pioneering 20th-century ecologist often called the "father of modern ecology" for his influential work on ecological niches, limnology, and the theoretical foundations of population and community ecology.
-
C.
Stephen Hubbell
Stephen Hubbell is an American ecologist best known for developing the Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, which offers a novel explanation for species diversity patterns in ecological communities.
-
D.
Eric R. Pianka
Eric R. Pianka is an American evolutionary ecologist and herpetologist renowned for his influential work on lizard ecology, biodiversity, and theoretical ecology.
-
E.
Victor E. Shelford
Victor E. Shelford was an American ecologist and pioneer in animal ecology who helped establish ecology as a scientific discipline in the United States.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Robert T. Paine Target entity description: Robert T. Paine was an American ecologist best known for pioneering the concept of keystone species and demonstrating the profound impact of top predators on ecosystem structure.
-
A.
Robert H. MacArthur
Robert H. MacArthur was a pioneering American ecologist best known for his foundational work in community ecology and the theory of island biogeography.
-
B.
G. Evelyn Hutchinson
G. Evelyn Hutchinson was a pioneering 20th-century ecologist often called the "father of modern ecology" for his influential work on ecological niches, limnology, and the theoretical foundations of population and community ecology.
-
C.
Stephen Hubbell
Stephen Hubbell is an American ecologist best known for developing the Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, which offers a novel explanation for species diversity patterns in ecological communities.
-
D.
Eric R. Pianka
Eric R. Pianka is an American evolutionary ecologist and herpetologist renowned for his influential work on lizard ecology, biodiversity, and theoretical ecology.
-
E.
Victor E. Shelford
Victor E. Shelford was an American ecologist and pioneer in animal ecology who helped establish ecology as a scientific discipline in the United States.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (42)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
academic
ⓘ
ecologist ⓘ human ⓘ |
| awardReceived | MacArthur Fellowship ⓘ |
| countryOfCitizenship | United States of America ⓘ |
| educatedAt |
Harvard University
ⓘ
University of Michigan ⓘ |
| employer | University of Washington ⓘ |
| familyName | Paine ⓘ |
| fieldOfWork |
community ecology
ⓘ
ecology ⓘ marine ecology ⓘ trophic ecology ⓘ |
| givenName | Robert ⓘ |
| hasAcademicAdvisor | G. Evelyn Hutchinson ⓘ |
| influenced |
conservation biology
ⓘ
ecosystem management ⓘ trophic cascade research ⓘ |
| influencedBy | G. Evelyn Hutchinson ⓘ |
| inspiredBy | Charles Darwin ⓘ |
| knownFor |
demonstrating the role of top predators in structuring ecosystems
ⓘ
experimental studies of rocky intertidal communities ⓘ keystone species concept ⓘ starfish removal experiments ⓘ |
| languageOfWorkOrName | English ⓘ |
| memberOf | National Academy of Sciences ⓘ |
| middleName | Treat ⓘ |
| notableConcept |
keystone predation
ⓘ
trophic cascades ⓘ |
| notableWork |
1966 paper describing keystone predation in intertidal communities
ⓘ
1974 paper coining the term "keystone species" ⓘ |
| occupation |
ecologist
ⓘ
university teacher ⓘ |
| researchFocus |
disturbance in ecological communities
ⓘ
predation ⓘ species interactions ⓘ |
| researchMethod |
field experiments
ⓘ
manipulative experiments in natural ecosystems ⓘ |
| sexOrGender | male ⓘ |
| studied |
Pisaster ochraceus as a keystone predator
ⓘ
rocky intertidal food webs ⓘ |
| workLocation | Seattle ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Robert T. Paine Description of subject: Robert T. Paine was an American ecologist best known for pioneering the concept of keystone species and demonstrating the profound impact of top predators on ecosystem structure.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.