Bradley C. Livezey
Bradley Curtis Livezey ( born June 15, 1954 in Massachusetts, † February 8, 2011 in Pine Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania) was an American ornithologist. His research involved the development of flightless birds, ecology and behavior of steamer ducks, genetic analyzes of birds and diseases in birds.
Life and work
Livezey was born in Massachusetts, but grew up mainly in Chicago. In his childhood, he moved several times. Early on, he developed an interest in birds. 1976 graduated as a Bachelor Livezey at Oregon State University. In 1979 he received his first master's degree at the University of Wisconsin -Madison in wildlife ecology and 1984, his second in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kansas. In 1985 he received his doctorate with the thesis Systematics and flightlessness of steamer - ducks ( Anatidae: Tachyeres ) at the University of Kansas to the Ph.D.
A large part of Livezeys work dealt with the disputed areas of the phylogeny and systematics of birds. While many of Livezeys colleagues demonstrated their research with DNA analysis, Livezey took a more traditional approach, based on thorough studies of the shape and properties of bone. Common interests Livezeys included the phylogenetic relationships of bird families, phylogenetic relationships of waterfowl, the evolution of flightlessness in birds, comparative osteology, multivariate morphometrics and the Paläornithologie.
In 1993, Dr. Livezey employees in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Here he oversaw as curator of the bird department, the ninth largest with 195,000 bellows bird collection of the United States.
On 8 February 2011 Livezey died during a collision between two cars on icy roads on Pennsylvania Route 910 near his residence in Pine Township.