The contribution of Nicolae Botnariuc to evolutionary biology using systems theory

Early this year, the Romanian Academy commemorated the centennial birthday of the evolutionary biologist Nicolae Botnariuc (1915-03-13–2011-03-01; Fig. 1). The scientific contribution of Botnariuc has been well recognized within the Romanian community of biologists which fostered influential personalities like Emil G. Racovitza, Constantin Motas, and Radu Codreanu (cf. Iftimovici 1977; Negrea 2007). However, many aspects of Botnariuc's scientific achievements remain largely unknown beyond the Romanian academic space, likely owing to publications with a restricted international distribution — at the time the academic space of Eastern Europe was still constrained ideologically. Nicolae Botnariuc was a natural historian, with a long career in zoology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. He joined the Department of Biology at the University of Bucharest in 1948 where he served as the head of department for more than 30 years. Botnariuc served also as the editor of the series of academic volumes Romania’s Fauna, an important contribution to the documentation of the biological diversity of fauna in Eastern Europe that resulted in 78 volumes. In 1991 Botnariuc became amember of the Romanian Academy. Over three decades of research and teaching, many generations of students were inspired by the clarity of his lectures, advanced ideas, and generous nature. Botnariuc introduced his students to the evolutionary theory and the systems theory in general biology while extending a strong appreciation for natural history and the history of biology (Negrea and Negrea 2008). He published more than 150 research articles along with a series of seminal books. His first book, printed in 1961 (Botnariuc 1961), portrayed a detailed and attractive history of biology that inspired many generations of students. This early publication was followed by several books (Botnariuc 1967, 1976, 1992, 2003a) in which Botnariuc adopted the general systems theory of Ludwig von Bertalanffy (von Bertalanffy 1932, 1950a, 1950b, 1968) and explored its applications to the evolutionary theory rooted in the neo-darwinian concepts. Botnariuc adopted the view of nature being organised in systems, with each system being formed by amultitude of interconnected parts and having emergent properties that differ from those of the constituent subunits. However, mid-career Botnariuc started reviewing critically the hierarchical systems proposed and debated at the time (e.g., Dice 1955; Odum 1959; Eldredge 1985; Mayr 1998) and recognized the diversity of ideas and the need for a clear definition of the notion of organizational level. In his books, Principles of biology (1967) and later in Systemic conception in general biology (1976), Botnariuc considered that living matter is structured in a series of interactive units forming hierarchic biological systems. For Botnariuc “a level of living matter organization is the assembly of equivalent biological systems, with a character of universality, able to have an independent existence” (Botnariuc 2003b,