Max Hooper obituary

Biologist and historian best known for Hooper’s Law, used to estimate the age of a hedgerowMax Hooper, who has died aged 82, was a biologist and historian who pioneered the ecological study of hedges. His best remembered discovery was what became known as Hooper’s Hedgerow Hypothesis, or more simply as Hooper’s Law. By examining the composition of a large number of hedges across Britain, he realised that there was a strong connection between age and diversity.As hedges grew old