From the society: Robert E. Ricklefs to receive the 2011 Alfred Russel Wallace Award in Crete

Abstract

membership corner ISSN 1948-6596 from the society Robert E. Ricklefs to receive the 2011 Alfred Russel Wallace Award in Crete The Alfred Russel Wallace Award was established by the International Biogeography Society in 2004 to recognize a lifetime of outstanding contribu- tions by an eminent scholar in any subdiscipline of biogeography. Previous recipients include Drs. Jack Briggs, Jared Diamond and John Avise. The ARW Award committee has endorsed the nomination of Robert E. Ricklefs for the 2011 Alfred Russel Wallace Award, because of his major contributions in the fields of ecology, evolution and biogeography. This nomination has now been approved by the IBS Board of Directors. Robert E. Ricklefs’ highly multidisciplinary research has contributed greatly to a better un- derstanding of species diversity and ecological communities across space and time. His research interests span the evolutionary diversification of avian growth and life histories, the historical de- velopment of ecological communities, and how the evolution of regional biotas determines spe- cies richness locally. Through these studies, he has explored how the factors promoting diversifica- tion – such as selection, speciation, and dispersal – are balanced by constraints that limit the re- sponse to selection or the coexistence of species. By integrating data and approaches from the fields of evolution and ecology, he has been able to make profound insights into the factors that underlie biogeographical patterns in the diversity of local communities. Dr. Ricklefs is currently Curators´ Professor of Biology at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. His scientific productivity and influence on ecology and biogeography are outstanding: he is the author or coauthor of four books and two popular ecology textbooks (Ecology and The Econ- omy of Nature), which have appeared in many editions since the 1970s. These texts have set the standard for ecology teaching for more than 30 years. Dr. Ricklefs has written almost 300 peer- reviewed papers and more than 80 other articles, many of which have appeared in Science, Nature and other top-tier journals. Dr. Ricklefs has received many honors, including the Alexander von Humboldt Rese- arch Award in 2009, and the President’s Award (1999) and Sewall Wright Award (2005) of the American Society of Naturalists. The latter honors a senior but still active investigator who is making fundamental contributions to the conceptual uni- fication of the biological sciences. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science (1984), a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993), and in 2009 was elected to the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. Dr. Ricklefs will give the Wallace Award key- note lecture at the 5th Biennial meeting of the IBS in Crete, 7-11 January, 2011. He is also co- organizer, with Dr. Dave Jenkins from the Univer- sity of Central Florida, of a symposium entitled “Biogeography and Ecology: Two Lenses in One Telescope”, scheduled for 9th January. Felisa Smith Chair of the Alfred Russel Wallace Award committee Robert J. Whittaker President of the International Biogeography Society Did you know that any member of the IBS may raise an issue or appeal a decision of the governing Board of Directors by placing a matter before the Governing Board of Directors for discussion? If there is a matter you would like discussed at the January 2011 Board meeting, write to the society's Secretary (check current list of officers at http://www.biogeography.org/html/About% 20IBS/officers.html). © 2010 the authors; journal compilation © 2010 The International Biogeography Society — frontiers of biogeography 2.1, 2010