Luis Alejandro Yáñez‐Arancibia 1944–2016

Abstract

The scientific contributions of Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia are numerous and many contributed in fundamental ways to research in tropical America and more generally on topics concerning coastal ecology and management. His work on nekton ecology and fisheries of tropical coastal ecosystems, especially those with extensive mangrove and submerged aquatic vegetation, together with his insights about fish habitat use and movement are emblematic and remembered among the many marine scientists mentored by him and those who were taught based on his work. An important aspect of his research also considered ecosystem functioning (e.g. framework of estuary-sea ecological interactions) as the basis for sustainable management, as well as ecological dimensions of climate change including the perception of mangroves as sentinel ecosystems, and continental shelf river plumes in the Gulf of Mexico and ecological resilience. In this article, we pay tribute to the fascinating professional journey of Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia, and to the outstanding scientist and exemplary person he was. Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia was born in Santiago de Chile in July 1944. His academic career began in his homeland Chile, where he studied Biology at the Universidad de Concepción, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1971 with a thesis focused on a qualitative and quantitative study of the benthic macrofauna of the sublittoral zone of Bahía de Concepción. At the age of 28, in April of 1973, he emigrated to Mexico where he continued his studies with a Master in Sciences in Marine Biology at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), in Mexico City. His PhD work on taxonomy, ecology and structure of the ichthyofaunal communities in nine coastal lagoons of the state of Guerrero (Central Mexican Pacific) at the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, ICML-UNAM, supervised by Richard S. Nugent and John W. Day (Louisiana State University), was the beginning of a broad trajectory of coastal research in Mexico and many other countries, mainly in Latin America. But the impact of his work is global as he published on many aspects of the ecology and management of coastal ecosystems. After receiving his PhD in 1977, he became the head of the Laboratory of Ichthyology and the founder of the Laboratory of Estuarine Ecology at ICML-UNAM. Beginning in 1975, he began teaching courses on the Ecology of Coastal Systems, Estuarine Nekton, and Demersal Communities in the Masters and Doctoral Program in Marine Sciences at the ICML-UNAM. Very shortly after that, in 1978, he became titular researcher at the ICML-UNAM, and in 1982, he worked with John Day of Louisiana State University on a Post Doc in Estuarine Ecology and Coastal Management at Louisiana State University. From 1985 to 1995 Alejandro was a full-time researcher at the ICML-UNAM. Overall, his path at UNAM consisted of two decades of research at that institution. The work of Alejandro and other scientists from UNAM contributed to a growing understanding in the field of coastal research at the international level. Beginning in the 1960s, many scientists including the Odum brothers and Francis P. Shepard and a renowned group of scientists set the stage in basin-wide sedimentology and ecology for subsequent work in deltas and shorelines around the world (reviewed in Escobar-Briones & Lecuanda, 2010). Important advances followed in many regions including the southern Gulf of Mexico region. In this context, in 1983, Alejandro became a member of the Academic Commission of the Marine Research Station ‘El Carmen’ (ICML-UNAM), located in Cd. del Carmen, Campeche, nestled in the southern tropical portion of the Gulf of Mexico. Here Alejandro and colleagues carried out a long series of studies in Terminos Lagoon, one of the most important coastal tropical ecosystems in Latin America. During the decade of the 1980s, two themes marked his research and teaching activity: the ecology of the coastal zone and ecology and dynamics of tropical fish communities. Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia considered the scientific, social and economic importance of the coastal zone. He explained clearly, in the context of an ecosystem perspective, the concepts of ‘coastal zone’, the integration of ‘coastal ecological systems’ and the ‘lagoon-estuarine ecosystem’; proposing an ecological diagnosis as a criterion for classification. These topics have been extensively used in different regions, for the purpose of analysis, teaching and research. These concepts remain fundamental to integrated coastal management. Likewise, through the analysis of patterns of distribution and abundance of tropical fish communities and the dynamics of use of diverse coastal habitats, Alejandro and his group postulated the ‘ecological dependence’ on estuaries, particularly for species of commercial interest and the definition of ‘ecological functional groups’. These concepts allowed an in depth understanding of multispecies coexistence in tropical communities and the maintenance of biomass flows. The interaction of physical variables of estuarine ecosystems related to different biological stages of species led to the development of new concepts such as seasonality related to ecological pulses or ‘seasonal programming’; and the complex environmental dynamics from freshwater areas of estuaries to ‘estuarine-shelf interactions’. These concepts led to advances of fisheries science in the Southern Gulf of Mexico, and constituted the basis for hypotheses which have been widely applied in other regions of the tropical coasts. With this, Alejandro and colleagues contributed to our understanding of tropical coastal nekton ecology. In 1990, he founded and became scientific director of the EPOMEX Program (Ecology, Fisheries and Oceanography of the Gulf of Mexico, 1990–1997), with the support of the University of Campeche and the Ministry of Public Education of Mexico. In 1993, the National University of Mexico (UNAM) was co-sponsor of the Program through the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology at El Carmen Marine Research Station. The ‘natural laboratory’ idea applied in the early 1960s was then applicable for the new laboratory in the Southern Gulf of Mexico, based on coordination and institutional strengthening, as well as scientific research par excellence oriented towards the optimum exploitation of the coastal zone, its biological resources, and the conservation of the marine environment, coupling science with resource managers and policy makers in the Gulf of Mexico. The role of Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia in the formation of human resources and integrated coastal zone management was crucial in a context of development of international relationships in the academic and scientific sphere in Mexico. In words of Alejandro, ‘EPOMEX transitioned from a regional program to an academic center to finally a research and capacity building institution at undergraduate and postgraduate levels with strong international bonds’. In this programme, he was titular professor of International Courses in the area of ‘Ecology and Management of Coastal Ecosystems’ and participated in the Program for Mobility in Higher Education among the United States, Canada and Mexico in the framework of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) from 1995 to 1998. During the 1990s, he was also member of the Interinstitutional Committee of Academic Peers for the Evaluation of Higher Education in Mexico in the Area of Agro-Livestock Sciences ANUIES-SEP (1991–1993). In 1998, he moved to the coastal state of Veracruz, where he became a full time titular researcher at the Institute of Ecology A. C. (INECOL A. C.) in the capital city of Xalapa. Here, he was head of the group of Coastal Ecosystems from 2002 to 2004 and titular professor of the postgraduate courses Integrated Management of Coastal Resources, Ecology and Management of Tropical Estuaries, Evaluation of Environmental Impact in the Coastal Zone and Ecology of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, the last cosponsored by the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) and Louisiana State University (LSU). After 2009, until his death, he was a member of the Network of Environment and Sustainability of INECOL A. C. During his tenure at INECOL, Alejandro also participated as researcher and visiting professor in a number of international efforts including the following: Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University (supported by the Louisiana Sea Grant Program, NOAA) from 2004 to 2005; adjunct faculty at Texas A & M University, Corpus Christi, Department of Physical and Life Sciences, from 2006 to 2007; titular professor of the course Strategic Environmental Planning of the Coastal Zone in the programme Integrated Coastal Management of the Southern Cone (MCI-Sur), University of the Republic of Uruguay, from 2008 to 2010; and visiting professor at East Carolina University from 2010 to 2011 where he taught Climate Change Ecology. His broad experience as lecturer and researcher also included the following countries: Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala. In Mexico, besides UNAM, EPOMEX and INECOL A. C., he also taught at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM-Iztapalapa), CINVESTAV (IPN-Mérida), and the Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit, as well as in the Faculty of Law of the Universidad Anáhuac de Xalapa teaching the course on Governance of Water and Coastal Zones. In total, he directed and advised 62 theses at the Bachelor, Master in Sciences and Doctoral levels. His publications include articles in worldwide peer-reviewed journals, scientific diffusion articles, book chapters and books as well as published work in International Proceedings, and total about 320 publications. Among his best known books are: Fish Community Ecology in Estuaries & Coastal Lagoons: towards an Ecosystem Integration, 1985 UNAM Press Mexico; Recruitment Processes in Tropical Coastal Demersal Communities, 1986 IOC-UNESCO Paris (with D. Pauly); Estuarine Ecology, 1989 John Wiley & Sons Inc. New York (with J.W. Day, C.A.S. Hall, W.M. Kemp); Mangrove Ecosystems in Tropical America, 1999 INECOL-IUCN-NOAA (with A.L. Lara-Dominguez); Environmental Science, 2009 SAGE Publications Ltd. London U.K. (with K. Gregory, J.W. Day); Impactos del Cambio Climático sobre la Zona Costera, 2010 INECOL, Texas Sea Grant Program Houston, INE SEMARNAT Mexico DF; The Gulf of Mexico: Ecosystem-Based Management, 2013 Texas A&M University Press (with J.W. Day); Ecological Dimensions for Sustainable Socio Economic Development, 2013 WIT Press Southampton U.K. (with R. Dávalos, J.W. Day & E. Reyes); and Estuarine Ecology, 2nd edition (co-edited with J.W. Day, W.M. Kemp & B.C. Crump). He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Anales del Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (UNAM) and Associate Editor for Ocean & Coastal Management (Elsevier) and Wetlands Ecology & Management (Kluwer/Springer). He was also editorial board member of Estuaries (ERF), Investigaciones Marinas (CICIMAR), Revista Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural, Joint Oceanographic Assembly (SCOR UNESCO), Hidrobiológica (UAM), Jaina & Serie Científica EPOMEX, Environmental Science Review G&B Amsterdam, Mangrove and Salt Marshes (SPB Publ. Amsterdam), Review of Fish Biology & Fisheries (Chapman & Hall), The Gulf of Mexico Large Marine Ecosystem (Blackwell Science), Texas A&M University Press (Book Series on the Gulf of Mexico), WIT Press UK (Sustainable Development Book Series) and Revista COSTAS UNESCO Latin America. His very productive career also included participation in regional projects, groups of experts and as consultant in marine sciences and coastal management. In this vein, he participated in the International Mangroves Project of the Organization of the American States (OEA) in Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic from 1977 to 1988, and in the Coastal Resources Management Project of the University of Rhode Island in Puerto Rico and Ecuador in 1987 and 1991. He was consultant for many international and national organizations and panels related to coastal marine science and sustainable development including the UN International Maritime Organization, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UNESCO, the International Oceanographic Commission, the National Council for Science and Technology, Mexico (CONACYT), the International Development Research Centre of Canada, (IDRC – Canada), the National Advisory Council for Environmental Agreements of NAFTA (Mexico) and the Global International Water Assessment of UNEP. Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia received the NAGA Award for best scientific contribution by a developing-country author from the International Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM, Philippines, now The WorldFish Center, Malaysia) in 1990, Distinguished Honoured Professor in Marine Sciences with the Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research of the University of South Carolina in 1992, the William A. Niering Outstanding Educator Award from the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation U.S.A. (CERF) for excellence in coastal and estuarine education and research through effective academic collaboration among U.S.A., Europe and Latin America in 2007, and the Thomas W. Rivers Distinguished Professorship in International Affairs from the East Carolina University in 2010. Also in 1998, the book The Gulf of Tehuantepec: The Ecosystem and its Resources was dedicated to him by the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana –UAM Iztapalapa and The Simon Fraser University, British Columbia. In this issue of the Journal of Fish Biology, with deepest affection, admiration and respect, we are deeply honored to remember Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia, an outstanding scientist, friend, husband, father and professor. We acknowledge the initiative, invitation and motivation of G. Castellanos Galindo (Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research – ZMT), M. Barletta (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – UFPE) and S. Blaber (CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere and Associate Editor of Journal of Fish Biology) in the preparation of this obituary.