Robert Ricklefs

Robert Eric Ricklefs ( born June 6, 1943 in San Francisco) is an American ornithologist and ecologist. He is a professor of biology at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. He is the husband of Susanne S. Renner.

Academic career

He graduated in 1963 from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1967 he received the title of Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. He then worked for a year at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute as a postdoctoral fellow and then a teaching position at the University of Pennsylvania to assume (1968-1972 Assistant Professor, 1972-1978 Associate Professor 1978-1995 and as a full professor ). Since 1995 he is Curators ' Professor at the University of Missouri.

His most influential ( most cited ) scientific papers address the topics of biological communities, growth processes (especially in birds ) and biodiversity (as of August 16, 2010 ). From him authored textbooks Ecology, which was first launched in 1973 and The Economy of Nature, with a first edition in 1976.

Awards

"The key of the natural sciences is to merge information from different sources and the synthesis to a new angle. Robert E. Ricklefs is distinguished in this fast changing intellectual process, and also by the constant supply of new data, which are essential for new syntheses of. The biological questions with which he deals are complex, but mostly focuses on factors such as the influence of evolution on the growth of birds and the development of variants of patterns within a species. At the same time he has created a new synthesis on information about the life cycle of birds and their demographics that explained the pattern of co-evolution in growth and mortality rates as well as the lifestyle of birds. In addition, he made proactive analyzes of temporal and spatial diversity in bird communities and contexts through variables in their life story. About his oeuvre he has maintained a clear relationship between theory and empirical observations and expressed his ideas and results in a very readable prose. For his new insights and fruitful contributions in different fields Robert E. Ricklef has earned the full respect of his peers from around the world. By recognizing these achievements, it served to give him the Brewster Memorial Award of the year 1982, the American Ornithologists ' Union with pride. "

• In 2000 he was given the honorary doctorate from the Université catholique de Louvain.

• In 2003 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Pacific Seabird Group for his work on growth processes and the development of sea birds.

• In the same year he received the Margaret Morse Nice Medal of the Wilson Ornithological Society.

• In 2004 he was awarded the Sewall Wright Award from the American Society of Naturalists, which is awarded annually to researchers who make fundamental contributions to the conceptual unification of the disciplines of biology.

• In 2006 he received from the Cooper Ornithological Society and the Loye Alden Miller Research Award, which is awarded for lifetime achievement in the field of ornithology.

• 2009 R. Ricklefs was accepted as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

• 2010 honorary doctorate from the University of Aarhus, he was awarded.

• In 2011, he received the Alfred Russel Wallace Award, which is awarded by the International Biogeography Society for outstanding lifetime achievements in the discipline of biogeography.