Ilkka Hanski of the University of Helsinki was named on Thursday as the winner of this year's Crafoord Prize for Biosciences. He was cited for his work on the effects of spatial variation on wildlife.
The King of Sweden will present him with the prize, worth some 450,000 euros, in Stockholm on May 10.
Hanski, who earned his doctorate in zoology from Oxford University, is now a research professor at the Academy of Finland.
The Crafoord award has been handed out annually since 1982 for scientific research in areas not covered by the Nobel Prizes.