Spencer Barrett (evolutionary biologist)

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Spencer Barrett
Spencer C.H. Barrett 2020.jpg
Barrett in 2020
Born
Spencer Charles Hilton Barrett

(1948-06-07) June 7, 1948 (age 77) [1]
Alma mater
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions University of Toronto
Thesis Breeding systems in Eichhornia and Pontederia, tristylous genera of the Pontederiaceae  (1977)
Doctoral advisor Herbert George Baker [3] [4]
Website labs.eeb.utoronto.ca/BarrettLab/

Spencer Charles Hilton Barrett FRS FRSC (born June 7, 1948) [1] is a Canadian evolutionary biologist, formerly a Canada Research Chair at University of Toronto and, in 2010, was named Extraordinary Professor at University of Stellenbosch. [5] [6] He is currently University Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto.

Contents

Education

Barrett was educated at the University of Reading [1] and the University of California, Berkeley, where he was awarded a PhD in 1977 [3] [7] for research into the breeding systems of the plants Eichhornia and Pontederia. He was supervised by Herbert Baker. [4]

Research and career

Barrett's interests are in evolutionary biology, evolutionary genetics, evolutionary ecology and plant reproduction. [2] His research seeks understanding of how flowers evolve and what mechanisms are responsible for mating system transitions in flowering plants. [8] Since 2017, he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the Royal Society series B, [9] the flagship scientific journal in the biological sciences of the Royal Society.

Barrett is an evolutionary biologist and a worldwide authority on the ecology and genetics of plant reproduction. His work has focused on increasing understanding of how flowers evolve and the mechanisms responsible for mating system transitions in flowering plants.

Barrett provided the first experimental evidence for the purging of deleterious genes following inbreeding in plants. [10] He also demonstrated that self-fertilization owing to large floral displays in plants can have a detrimental effect on the male fertility of plants. [11]

Barrett’s research group at the University of Toronto focuses on understanding the mechanisms responsible for the evolution of plant mating strategies, and he has edited several leading books in the field.

Awards and honours

Barrett was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1998 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 2004. [8] He is a founding member of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution and its President from 2010 to 2011. [8]

In 2006 the Canadian Botanical Association awarded him the George Lawson Medal for lifetime achievement in botany. [12] In 2008 he received the Sewall Wright Award from the American Society of Naturalists. [8] In 2014, he received the Flavelle Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. [13] In 2020 the Linnean Society of London award him the Darwin–Wallace Medal. [8]

In 2009 he was elected as a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. [14] In April 2020 Spencer Barrett was elected an International Member (Foreign Associate) of the National Academy of Sciences. [15]

The standard author abbreviation S.C.H.Barrett is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name. [16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "BARRETT, Prof. Spencer Charles Hilton" . Who's Who . Vol. 2017 (online Oxford University Press  ed.). Oxford: A & C Black.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 Spencer Barrett publications indexed by Google Scholar OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  3. 1 2 Barrett, Spencer Charles Hilton (1977). Breeding systems in Eichhornia and Pontederia, tristylous genera of the Pontederiaceae (PhD thesis). University of California, Berkeley. OCLC   6180836. ProQuest   302835946.
  4. 1 2 "Evolution Tree - Spencer C.H. Barrett Details". Academictree.org. 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  5. ↑ "Spencer Barrett". gc.ca. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Spencer Barrett". utoronto.ca. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  7. ↑ Spencer Barrett's ORCID   0000-0002-7762-3455
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Professor Spencer Barrett". The Royal Society:Fellows Directory. London: Royal Society. 2014.
  9. ↑ Barrett, Spencer C. H. (2017). "Proceedings B 2016: the year in review". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284 (1846): 20162633. doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.2633. ISSN   0962-8452. PMC   5247507 . PMID   28053056.
  10. ↑ Barrett, S. C. H.; Charlesworth, D. (August 1991). "Effects of a change in the level of inbreeding on the genetic load" . Nature. 352 (6335): 522–524. doi:10.1038/352522a0. ISSN   0028-0836.
  11. ↑ Harder, Lawrence D.; Barrett, Spencer C. H. (February 1995). "Mating cost of large floral displays in hermaphrodite plants" . Nature. 373 (6514): 512–515. doi:10.1038/373512a0. ISSN   0028-0836.
  12. ↑ "Past Recipients of the Lawson Medal". Canadian Botanical Association/L'Association Botanique du Canada.
  13. ↑ Past Award Winners: The Flavelle Medal
  14. ↑ "Spencer Charles Hilton Barrett | American Academy of Arts and Sciences". www.amacad.org. 2025-05-06. Retrieved 2025-05-31.
  15. ↑ "2020 NAS Election". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  16. ↑ International Plant Names Index.  S.C.H.Barrett.
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