Harry Frederick Recher | |
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Born | New York City, New York, USA | 27 March 1938
Alma mater | Syracuse University(B.Sc), Stanford University (PhD) |
Awards | Order Of Australia (AM), D. L. Serventy Medal, Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society (NSW) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Ornithology, conservation, ecology |
Institutions | University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, University of Sydney, Australian Museum, University of New England (Australia), Edith Cowan University |
Emeritus Professor Harry Frederick Recher RZS (NSW) AM (born 27 March 1938, New York City) is an Australian ecologist, ornithologist and advocate for conservation.
Recher grew up in the United States of America. He studied at the State University of New York College of Forestry and received his B.S. in 1959 from Syracuse University. At Stanford University, ecologist Paul Ehrlich supervised his PhD on migratory shorebirds that was awarded in 1964. Ehrlich became a lifelong friend and mentor to Recher; also sharing his commitment to a strong sense of social responsibility of science. [1] Recher held an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University. In his early career, Recher worked with leading American ecologists Eugene Odum and Robert McArthur.
He moved to Australia in 1967. [2] From 1968 he worked for 20 years at the Australian Museum as a Principal Research Scientist, focussing on conservation issues and the biology of forest and woodland birds. In 1988 he moved to the University of New England. He was also a member of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Scientific Advisory Committee.
Recher was co-editor and author of three books, A natural legacy: ecology in Australia ( 1979), [3] Birds of eucalypt forests and woodland: ecology, conservation, management. (1985) and Woodlands of Australia, all of which were awarded the Whitley Medal by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. As an early Australian ecology textbook, A Natural Legacy with co-editors Irina Dunn and Dan Lunney with David Milledge's hand-drawings illustrating the principles of community ecology and succession, Recher influenced a generation in an era of resurgent environmentalism.
Recher is heralded for his long-term field studies, especially of bird communities. In the 1980s, Recher and his colleagues applied these studies to identify the conservation requirements for native birds and animals in their specific habitats. In 2003 the statutory management plan, NPWS Nadgee Nature Reserve Plan of Management acknowledged the value of his work: [4] [5]
Other significant long term studies which are still ongoing include long term monitoring of heathland bird communities by Harry Recher, and long term study of the impact of fire, drought and flood on forest-dependent mammals by NPWS [...].
In 1990, Recher stood as a NSW candidate for the Australian Senate as an environmental independent with Irina Dunn, who was formerly a member of the House of Representatives for the Nuclear Disarmament Party. [6] After the election, Recher continued publishing about communications between ecologists, the media and politicians, and everyone. He remained a passionate advocate for conservation and for scientists communicating well about pressing issues of conservation and climate change. [7]
In 1995 he was foundation editor of Pacific Conservation Biology and continued to serve as an associate editor.
In 1996 he became the Foundation Professor in Environmental Management at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. As an intellectual leader in the field, Recher remained deeply committed to the contribution of science to policy for conservation and public understanding of ecology. [8] [9]
In 1994 he was awarded the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union's D.L. Serventy Medal for outstanding published work on birds in the Australasian region. [10] As well as numerous published scientific papers, he has authored and edited several books.
Goobang is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, 296 kilometres (184 mi) northwest of Sydney. It protects the largest remnant forest and woodland in the central west region of the state, where interior and coastal New South Wales flora and fauna species overlap. Originally named Herveys Range by John Oxley in 1817, the area was reserved in 1897 as state forest because of its importance as a timber resource, and was designated a national park in 1995.
Taunton National Park is situated near the town of Dingo approximately 135 km inland from Rockhampton in eastern Central Queensland, Australia. The park encompasses an area of 11,626 ha within the Northern Brigalow Belt bioregion of Queensland; a region widely recognised to contain considerable biodiversity.
The noisy miner is a bird in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae, and is endemic to eastern and southeastern Australia. This miner is a grey bird, with a black head, orange-yellow beak and feet, a distinctive yellow patch behind the eye, and white tips on the tail feathers. The Tasmanian subspecies has a more intense yellow panel in the wing, and a broader white tip to the tail. Males, females and juveniles are similar in appearance, though young birds are a brownish-grey. As the common name suggests, the noisy miner is a vocal species with a large range of songs, calls, scoldings and alarms, and almost constant vocalisations, particularly from young birds. One of four species in the genus Manorina, the noisy miner itself is divided into four subspecies. The separation of the Tasmanian M. m. leachi is of long standing, and the mainland birds were further split in 1999.
James Allen Keast was an Australian ornithologist, and Professor of Biology at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Born in Turramurra, New South Wales, he performed war service 1941–1945 in New Guinea and New Britain. He earned his BSc (1950) and MSc (1952) degrees at the University of Sydney, going on to earn an MA (1954) and PhD (1955) from Harvard. He started the first natural history series on Australian television in 1958–1960. A long-time member and benefactor of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), he was elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1960. Keast joined the faculty of Queen's in 1962, and in 1989 became a professor emeritus. In 1995 he was awarded the D.L. Serventy Medal for outstanding published work on birds in the Australasian region. As well as numerous scientific papers, he authored and edited several books.
Dr Hugh Alastair Ford is an Australian ornithologist.
The white-eared honeyeater is a medium-sized honeyeater found in Australia. It is a member of the family Meliphagidae which has 190 recognised species with about half of them found in Australia. This makes them members of the most diverse family of birds in Australia. White-eared honeyeaters are easily identifiable by their olive-green body, black head and white ear-patch.
Jarrah Forest, also known as the Southwest Australia woodlands, is an interim Australian bioregion and ecoregion located in the south west of Western Australia. The name of the bioregion refers to the region's dominant plant community, jarrah forest – a tall, open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is jarrah.
The western yellow robin is a species of bird in the Australasian robin family, Petroicidae, native to Australia. Described by John Gould in 1838, the western yellow robin and its Australian relatives are not closely related to either the European or American robins, but they appear to be an early offshoot of the Passerida group of songbirds. Ranging between 13.5 and 15.5 cm long, it has grey upperparts, and a grey breast and head, broken by whitish streaks near the bill and below the eye, with a conspicuous yellow belly. The sexes are similar in appearance. Two subspecies are recognized: subspecies griseogularis, which has a yellow rump, and subspecies rosinae with an olive-green rump.
Scottsdale Reserve is a 1,328-hectare (3,280-acre) nature reserve on the Murrumbidgee River in south-central New South Wales, Australia. It is 79 kilometres (49 mi) south of Canberra, and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of Bredbo. It is owned and managed by Bush Heritage Australia (BHA), which purchased it in 2006. The purchase was supportive of projects aiming to connect existing fragmented remnant habitat such as K2C. Since the 1870s up until 2006, the land was used for agriculture – primarily sheep grazing with some minor cropping. A significant component of the Reserve has been cleared of native vegetation.
Richard J. Hobbs FAA, is an Emeritus Professor, ARC former Australian Laureate Fellow and ecologist at the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a Highly-Cited author who has written extensively in the areas of vegetation dynamics and management, ecosystem fragmentation, ecosystem rehabilitation and restoration, landscape ecology, and conservation biology. His research focused on managing ecosystems in a rapidly changing world and the implications of environmental and biological change for conservation and restoration.
Graeme James Caughley was a New Zealand population ecologist, conservation biologist, and researcher. He combined empirical research with mathematical models, and supported the declining population paradigm.
The Yathong Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve that is also a nationally and internationally recognized biosphere situated in the central-western region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 107,240-hectare (265,000-acre) reserve was listed by UNESCO in 1977 as a Biosphere Reserve under the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB). The reserve is significant for its biodiversity in both native plant and animal species. Cultural heritage and historical grazing activities add to the significance of this site as a conservation area.
Distinguished Professor David Lindenmayer,, is an Australian scientist and academic. His research focuses on the adoption of nature conservation practices in agricultural production areas, developing ways to improve integration of native forest harvesting and biodiversity conservation, new approaches to enhance biodiversity conservation in plantations, and improved fire management practices in Australia. He specialises in large-scale, long-term research monitoring programs in south-eastern Australia, primarily in forests, reserves, national parks, plantations, and on farm land.
The Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve in the central western region of New South Wales, Australia. The 86.4-hectare (213-acre) reserve is situated 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of West Wyalong and may be accessed via the Newell Highway and The Charcoal Tank Road. The reserve is an important refuge for native flora and fauna in a highly fragmented landscape, one in which the majority of the original vegetation has been removed.
Setirostris eleryi is a species of small insectivorous bat found in inland eastern Australia. It is the sole species of the molossid genus Setirostris, a name that refers to the coarse bristles on their faces. Earlier common names have referred to this unique feature, and the 'free-tail' that is a common feature of its microchiropteran family, the Molossidae; no single common name emerged during the taxonomic revisions that identified what was referred to as the bristle-faced freetail.
The Great Western Woodlands is located in the southwest of Australia. The woodlands cover almost 16,000,000 hectares, a region larger in size than England and Wales. The boundary of the Great Western Woodlands runs from the Nullarbor Plain in the east to the Western Australian Wheatbelt in the west; from north of Esperance through to the inland mulga country and deserts that are found north of Kalgoorlie.
The Cumberland Plain Woodland, also known as Cumberland Plain Bushland and Western Sydney woodland, is a grassy woodland community found predominantly in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that comprises an open tree canopy, a groundcover with grasses and herbs, usually with layers of shrubs and/or small trees.
Limeburners Creek National Park is a protected national park on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The 91.2 km national park is located 5 km (3.1 mi) to the north of Port Macquarie and exists across both the Kempsey Shire and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council local government areas, but is chiefly managed by National Parks and Wildlife Service. The area was originally erected as a nature reserve but this reservation was revoked when it became formally recognised as a national park in 2010 under the National Parks and Wildlife Act (1974). Many threatened ecological habitats and species of fauna and flora are found within this park, alongside several heritage sites of cultural significance, particularly to the local Birpai and Dunghutti people upon whose land the park exists. The protected status of this national park is largely owing to the ecological and cultural value of the area, in addition to the value of the ecosystems to further scientific research.
Raymond Fredric Dasmann was an American biologist and environmental conservationist whose works were formative to the field of environmental science. Among other achievements, he helped develop the idea of sustainable development and wrote an influential textbook, Environmental Conservation, first published in 1959; it was in its fifth edition at the time of Dasmann's death in 2002.
David Cleland Paton is a conservation ecologist, ornithologist, academic, and author. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide and Director of Bio-R, which is an Adelaide-based nonprofit organization. He also co-founded the non-profit organization, Arid Recovery.