Pierre Legendre (ecologist)

Pierre Legendre CM FRSC OQ (born 5 October 1946), is an emeritus professor of ecology at Université de Montréal.^[1] He founded the field of numerical ecology, which is a quantitative subdiscipline of community ecology,^[2] with his brother the oceanographer Louis Legendre.

Born (1946-10-05) 5 October 1946 (age 79)

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Education

• McGill University
• University of Colorado Boulder

Fields

• Numerical ecology
• Community ecology
• Multivariate statistics
• Beta diversity
• Spatial analysis
• Statistical methods

Workplaces

• Université du Québec à Montréal
• Université de Montréal

Quick facts Born, Education ...

Pierre Legendre CM FRSC OQ
Born	(1946-10-05) 5 October 1946 (age 79) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Education	McGill University University of Colorado Boulder
Scientific career
Fields	Numerical ecology Community ecology Multivariate statistics Beta diversity Spatial analysis Statistical methods
Workplaces	Université du Québec à Montréal Université de Montréal
Thesis	Some formal aspects of the theory of biological evolution (1971)
Doctoral advisor	Askell Löve
Notable students	Marie-Josée Fortin
Website	numericalecology.com/indexEn.html

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Pierre Legendre obtained an MSc in zoology from McGill University in 1969, and at age 24, he earned a PhD in evolutionary biology from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1971. From 1971 to 1972, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Lund University in Sweden. From 1972 to 1980, he was research associate, then research director in an environmental science research centre at Université du Québec à Montréal. Since 1980, he has been professor of quantitative ecology in the department of biological sciences at Université de Montréal^[3]. He retired from teaching in September 2024 and was appointed professor emeritus at Université de Montréal in 2025.^[4]