Masaaki Morishita

(27 January 1913 - 25 February 1997) was a Japanese ecologist and professor emeritus of animal ecology at Kyoto University. He is known as the father of population ecology in Japan. Morisita's overlap index and Morisita's index of dispersion are named after him.

In addition to his work on statistical ecology, he also studied the natural history of Japanese ants. With several other myrmecologists, he produced a complete catalogue of ants in Japan. Three species of ants are named after him (Pyramica morisitai, Proceratium morisitai , and Lasius morisitai).

Biography Morisita was born in Osaka and spent his high school years in Kōchi. He obtained a bachelor's of agriculture at Kyoto University in 1932, and later a doctorate of science in 1950.

He was awarded the Zoological Society of Japan Award in 1964, and the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class in 1986. After his death, the Morisita Memorial & Research Foundation was named in his honor.

Name Like many academics from Kyoto University, Morisita had a preference for the spelling of his name in foreign language papers, writing it as "Morisita" using Kunrei-shiki romanization, rather than the English-based Hepburn romanization "Morishita".