David Macdonald (biologist)

Last updated

David Macdonald
Born
David Whyte Macdonald

1951 (age 7273) [1]
NationalityScottish
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Alma mater Wadham College, Oxford (BA) Balliol College, Oxford (DPhil)
Awards
Scientific career
Fields Zoology, wildlife conservation
Institutions University of Oxford
Doctoral students Rosie Woodroffe [2]

Alexandra Zimmermann

Tucker Murphy
Website www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/people/professor-david-macdonald

David Whyte Macdonald CBE FRSE is a Scottish zoologist and conservationist. He is the Director of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at the University of Oxford, which he founded in 1986. He holds a Senior Research Fellowship at Lady Margaret Hall with the Title of Distinction of Professor of Wildlife Conservation. [3] [4] He has been an active wildlife conservationist since graduating from Oxford.[ when? ]

Contents

Career

David Macdonald's concept was, and remains, to undertake original research on aspects of fundamental biology relevant to solving practical problems of wildlife conservation and environmental management, and thus to underpin policy formation and public debate of the many issues that surround the conservation of wildlife and its habitats. [4] From his early work on red foxes he retains a specialisation in carnivores, with an increasing emphasis on felids. He has published over 300 papers in refereed international journals, and written or edited more than a dozen books, of which the most recent is Key Topics in Conservation Biology.

Amongst other things he is currently[ when? ] a Visiting Professor at Imperial College, chair of the Darwin Advisory Committee, Chair of Natural England's Science Advisory Committee and board member, a Trustee of Earthwatch Europe [5] and WWF-UK, and council member of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. [4]

He has done much to popularise biology with the general public. He is known for his documentary films and his popular books, for which he has twice won the Natural World Author of the Year award. His Night of the Fox won the BAFTA for Best Documentary Film of 1976, Running with the Fox won the Natural History Book of the Year award for 1987, and Meerkats United won the Wildscreen 1988 award. His films include the popular BBC seven-part series The Velvet Claw, a natural history of carnivores. [6]

Awards and honours

He won the Dawkins Prize for Conservation and Animal Welfare in 2005, [7] he was awarded the American Society of Mammalogists' Merriam Prize for research in mammalogy in 2006, [8] and in 2007 The Mammal Society of Great Britain's equivalent medal. [9] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 2008. [10]

Macdonald was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. [6] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox</span> Genera of mammal

Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail ("brush").

<i>Vulpes</i> Genus of the sub-family Caninae

Vulpes is a genus of the sub-family Caninae. The members of this genus are colloquially referred to as true foxes, meaning they form a proper clade. The word "fox" occurs in the common names of all species of the genus, but also appears in the common names of other canid species. True foxes are distinguished from members of the genus Canis, such as domesticated dogs, wolves, jackals and coyotes, by their smaller size (5–11 kg), longer, bushier tail, and flatter skull. They have black, triangular markings between their eyes and nose, and the tip of their tail is often a different color from the rest of their pelt. The typical lifespan for this genus is between two and four years, but can reach up to a decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bat-eared fox</span> Species of carnivorans

The bat-eared fox is a species of fox found on the African savanna. It is the only extant species of the genus Otocyon and considered a basal canid species. Fossil records indicate this canid first appeared during the middle Pleistocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kit fox</span> Species of fox native to North America

The kit fox is a fox species that inhabits arid and semi-arid regions of the southwestern United States and northern and central Mexico. These foxes are the smallest of the four species of Vulpes occurring in North America and are among the smallest of the vulpines worldwide. It has also been called a North American counterpart of the fennec fox due to its large ears.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bengal fox</span> Species of carnivore

The Bengal fox, also known as the Indian fox, is a fox endemic to the Indian subcontinent from the Himalayan foothills and Terai of Nepal through southern India, and from southern and eastern Pakistan to eastern India and southeastern Bangladesh.

Claudio Sillero-Zubiri is an Argentine-born British zoologist. He is a Professor of Conservation Biology at Oxford University's WildCRU, the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, and Bill Travers Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall. He is the Chair of the IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group, and Chief Scientist of the Born Free Foundation. He is internationally recognized for his work with carnivore conservation, and in particular the endangered Ethiopian wolf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian wolf</span> Canine native to Ethiopian Highlands

The Ethiopian wolf, also called the red jackal, the Simien jackal or Simien fox, is a canine native to the Ethiopian Highlands. In southeastern Ethiopia it is also known as the horse jackal. It is similar to the coyote in size and build, and is distinguished by its long and narrow skull, and its red and white fur. Unlike most large canids, which are widespread, generalist feeders, the Ethiopian wolf is a highly specialised feeder of Afroalpine rodents with very specific habitat requirements. It is one of the world's rarest canids, and Africa's most endangered carnivore.

Dada Gottelli is a British Zoologist. She is a Senior Research Technician with the Institute of Zoology, the research division of the Zoological Society of London. She has worked with the endangered Ethiopian wolf, the Serengeti cheetah and the Atlantic salmon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blanford's fox</span> Species of carnivore

Blanford's fox is a small fox native to the Middle East and Central Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Side-striped jackal</span> Canine native to Africa

The side-striped jackal is a canine native to central and southern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short-eared dog</span> Species of carnivore

The short-eared dog, also known as the short-eared zorro or small-eared dog, is a unique and elusive canid species endemic to the Amazonian basin. This is the only species assigned to the genus Atelocynus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South American gray fox</span> Species of carnivore

The South American gray fox, also known as the Patagonian fox, the chilla or the gray zorro, is a species of Lycalopex, the "false" foxes. It is endemic to the southern part of South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pale fox</span> Species of carnivore

The pale fox is a species of fox found in the band of African Sahel from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east. It is one of the least studied of all canid species, in part due to its remote habitat and its sandy coat that blends in well with the desert-like terrain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rüppell's fox</span> Species of carnivore

Rüppell's fox, also called Rüppell's sand fox, is a fox species living in desert and semi-desert regions of North Africa, the Middle East, and southwestern Asia. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008. It is named after the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Himalayan wolf</span> Subspecies of mammal

The Himalayan wolf is a canine of debated taxonomy. It is distinguished by its genetic markers, with mitochondrial DNA indicating that it is genetically basal to the Holarctic grey wolf, genetically the same wolf as the Tibetan and Mongolian wolf, and has an association with the African wolf. No striking morphological differences are seen between the wolves from the Himalayas and those from Tibet. The Himalayan wolf lineage can be found living in Ladakh in the Himalayas, the Tibetan Plateau, and the mountains of Central Asia predominantly above 4,000 m (13,000 ft) in elevation because it has adapted to a low-oxygen environment, compared with other wolves that are found only at lower elevations.

<i>Desmocyon</i> Extinct genus of carnivores

Desmocyon is an extinct genus of the Borophaginae subfamily of canids native to North America. It lived from the Late Oligocene to the Early Miocene, 24.8—16.3 Mya, existing for approximately 8.5 mya. It is a rarely found genus, with fossil deposits only occurring in western Nebraska, Wyoming, New Mexico and north Florida. It is regarded as a primitive, transitional member of the Borophagini tribe.

<i>Carpocyon</i> Extinct genus of carnivores

Carpocyon is an extinct genus of the Borophaginae subfamily of canids native to North America. It lived from the Middle to the Late Miocene, 13.6 to 5.3 Ma Mya, existing for approximately 16.5 million years. The four species in the genus varied in size, with the largest being about the size of a wolf; all had relatively small teeth, suggesting a diet that was more omnivorous than that of other contemporary borophagines.

Protepicyon is an extinct monospecific genus of the Borophaginae subfamily of canids native to North America. It lived during the Barstovian stage of the Middle Miocene 16.0—13.6 mya. One of the top predators of its time, it was the probable ancestor of the better known Epicyon, and is known from remains in California and New Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mackenzie River wolf</span> Subspecies of carnivore

The Mackenzie River wolf or Mackenzie Arctic Wolf is a subspecies of gray wolf which is found in Canada's southern portion of Northwest Territories. Not much has been published on Canis lupus mackenzii but one of the most comprehensive studies was done in 1954 by W.A. Fuller, Wolf Control Operations, Southern Mackenzie District, Canada Wildlife Service Report. This wolf is recognized as a subspecies of Canis lupus in the taxonomic authority Mammal Species of the World (2005).

References

  1. "Library Thing" . Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  2. Woodroffe, Rosemary Brigitte. (1992). Factors affecting reproductive success in the European badger, Meles meles L. (PhD thesis). University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  3. WildCRU Wildlife Conservation Research Unit of the University of Oxford Department of Zoology
  4. 1 2 3 "Professor David Whyte Macdonald". Department of Zoology. The University of Oxford. 2010. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  5. "Earthwatch Europe – Board and Governance". Earthwatch. Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  6. 1 2 Jen Rivett (14 June 2010). "University wildlife expert gets CBE for his work". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  7. "The Dawkins Prize for Animal Conservation and Welfare". Balliol College . The University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 12 September 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  8. "Merriam Award Committee". ASM. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  9. "Bursaries, Prizes and Awards". The Mammal Society . Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  10. "New Expertise Strengthens RSE Fellowship" (PDF). Press release. Royal Society of Edinburgh. 4 March 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  11. "No. 59446". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2010. p. 8.

Bibliography