Albert Russell Main

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Albert "Bert" Russell Main CBE FAA FANZAAS (born March 6, 1919 in Perth , Western Australia ; died December 3, 2009 there ) was an Australian zoologist and university professor.

Main's research encompassed numerous areas of zoology. Of outstanding importance are his research on frogs , with which he became one of the founders of bioacoustics , his ecological studies on marsupials , and his contributions to the study of biodiversity in Western Australia.

Life

Bert Main first grew up with two younger siblings on a small winery in Swan Valley, Western Australia . After quitting the family business and moving the family, he attended a school in Midland Junction . After graduating from school, at the age of 15, he took up a job as a clerk at the Department of Agriculture in Perth , where he soon got more demanding tasks. At the same time, I took courses in accounting and study preparation at an evening school.

At the age of 17, Main joined a civil defense unit as a volunteer. From February 1943 he served in an infantry battalion of the Australian Imperial Force , but soon switched to the Royal Australian Air Force . Following his training as a navigator, Main was transferred to Wolverhampton and flew air raids on Germany in an Avro Lancaster . During one of his missions, his machine was shot down in early 1945, and the crew was able to parachute themselves out of the burning aircraft. Main, who was injured when he jumped, tried to make his way to Holland for a week, but was discovered one morning by a farmer in a haystack and handed over to the authorities. He experienced the end of World War II as a prisoner of war in main camp VII A in Moosburg an der Isar .

After his return to Australia, Main, who was emaciated to 43 kilograms and suffered for decades from the consequences of malnutrition during captivity, spent some time in a military hospital. He then temporarily returned to his job at the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1947, Main began studying zoology at the University of Western Australia , funded by the Department of Post-War Reconstruction . After completing his Bachelor With Honors degree, he studied at the University of Chicago for two years , supported by the Fulbright Program . In 1952, he accepted a position as a lecturer at the University of Western Australia's Faculty of Zoology and began a doctoral degree, which he graduated with honors in 1956. His dissertation dealt with the systematics and evolution of the frog auger . Main's work was one of the first bioacoustic studies on frogs and, with the introduction of the mating calls of male frogs as a characteristic for differentiating between species, led to the first description of a large number of previously unrecognized species.

In 1958, Main, accompanied by his wife Barbara York Main and their first daughter, went on a study trip to the United States supported by the Carnegie Foundation , during which both carried out field studies and taxonomic studies in the large natural history museums. On the way back, the couple stayed in Great Britain for six months, where Barbara York Main studied the type collection of the Natural History Museum with the support of the International Federation of University Women and Bert Main dealt with the herpetological collections. Barbara's wish to study the natural history collections of German museums was not realized because Albert did not want to travel to Germany because of his war experiences. Instead, the collection material was sent to London for investigation.

For several consecutive years of drought in the 1940s, the sheep population in the Western Australian region of Pilbara had plummeted, whereas mountain kangaroos had spread dramatically and displaced the giant red kangaroos that had previously dominated the region . In long-term observations up to the late 1960s, Main and his employees were able to find out the causes. The practice of slash and burn had led to the spread of lean grasses of the genus Spinifex , the preferred food of the mountain kangaroos, while the nutrient-rich grasses needed for grazing sheep and preferred by the red giant kangaroos were displaced. Main's research provided evidence that anthropogenic changes in the natural balance were effective on a large scale in Pilbara.

In 1967, Main was awarded a professorship by the University of Western Australia, which he held until his retirement in 1983. In favor of his duties in various authorities of the state, he severely restricted his teaching activities from 1970, but supervised doctoral students until 1986.

Main's research focus was on amphibians , ecology and biodiversity . He also included other large groups such as reptiles , birds, insects and marsupials in his research and teaching . Far beyond his university career, Main was considered one of Australia's leading zoologists and one of the founders of ecological research on the continent.

Since 1958, Main has been a member of a Western Australian expert committee on nature conservation. A high point of activity was the publication of a report in 1965 recommending the establishment of several major national parks and nature reserves in Western Australia. Main was a founding member in 1972 and from 1982 to 1985 head of the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority, the environmental protection agency of the state of Western Australia. Temporarily he was Chairman of the Board of Directors for Zoos and the National Park Authority of Western Australia. Main's activities led to the establishment of a number of national parks and nature reserves in Western Australia, which are considered an essential element in the protection of Australian biodiversity. He was also a member of a number of higher education boards in Western Australia.

At the end of the 20th century, Main was one of the first major critics of the practice in Western Australia of burning large areas with controlled fires. Proponents cited the occurrence of natural bushfires, the slash and burn operations already carried out by the Aborigines , and the supposed adaptation of numerous species to intermittent fires. Main, however, was of the opinion that the "controlled" bush fires are much larger than the naturally occurring fires or those formerly used by the Aborigines. In addition, he was able to prove that the "adaptations to fire" of numerous plants are actually reactions to the nutrient shortage in the arid and semi-arid habitats. According to Main, the damage caused by the "controlled" bushfires in fragile ecosystems exceeds their benefits.

Main's first scientific publication in 1947 was a contribution to the artificial reproduction of the endemic woody plant Nuytsia floribunda in Western Australia , which parasitizes the roots of certain host plants as a semi- parasite. The article appeared in the magazine of the Western Australian Naturalists' Club . A number of natural history guides and handbooks, mostly on frogs, published by the association, followed in the 1950s and 1960s. Numerous first descriptions of Australian frogs and revisions of higher taxa were made by Main or with his participation. In the last years of his scientific career, Main published mainly on topics such as zoogeography and climate protection .

Main has been a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science since 1969 and a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science since 1981, which honored him with the Mueller Medal in 1990 . In 1982 he became an honorary member of the Royal Society of Western Australia . In 1987 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Australia. The Australian Ecological Society awarded him their gold medal in 1988. The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists made him an honorary member in 1975. In addition, Main was a member of a number of other associations of zoologists and ecologists, his membership in the Western Australian Naturalists' Club lasted more than 60 years.

On December 31, 1980, Main was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to education and science . On January 1, 2001, he was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal for his services to Australian society and his zoological research .

A number of animal species were named in honor of Bert Main. The genus Bertmainius is a 2015 described genus of tarantulas (family Migidae ).

In 1952 he married Barbara York Main , a doctoral student at the University of Western Australia and an important arachnologist , whom he had already met in 1947 at the university. The couple had three children and often conducted research together, including field studies and trips to Europe and the United States.

Publications (selection)

  • AR Main: Artificial propagation of Nuytsia floribunda . In: Western Australian Naturalist 1947, Volume 1, No. 2, pp. 25 and 31, ISSN  0508-4865 .
  • AR Main: A Key to the Frogs of South-Western Australia. Handbook No. 3 . Western Australian Naturalists Club, Perth 1954, OCLC 12246896 .
  • AR Main: A Guide for Naturalists. Handbook No. 4 . Western Australian Naturalists Club, Perth 1954.
  • AR Main, AK Lee and MJ Littlejohn: Evolution in three genera of Australian frogs . In: Evolution 1958, Volume 12, pp. 224-233, doi : 10.1111 / j.1558-5646.1958.tb02949.x .
  • AR Main: Frogs of Southern Western Australia. Handbook No. 8 . Western Australian Naturalists Club, Perth 1965, OCLC 875625846 .
  • AR Main: Ecology, systematics and evolution of Australian frogs . In: JB Cragg (Ed.): Advances in Ecological Research, Vol. 5 . Academic Press, London 1968, pp. 37-86.
  • Andrew A. Burbidge, John AW Kirsch, and AR Main: Relationships within the Chelidae (Testudines, Pleurodira) of Australia and New Guinea . In: Copeia 1974, No. 2, 392-409, doi : 10.2307 / 1442534 .
  • AR Main: Adaptations of Australian vertebrates to desert conditions . In: David W. Goodall (Ed.): Evolution of Desert Biota . University of Texas Press, Austin 1975, pp. 101-131, ISBN 0-292-72015-7 .
  • AR Main and HJ Bakker: Adaptation of macropod marsupials to aridity . In: Allen Keast (Ed.): Biogeography and Ecology in Australia . W. Junk, Dordrecht 1981, pp. 1489-1519, OCLC 717989096 .
  • AR Main: Rare species: precious or dross . In: RH Groves and WDL Ride (eds.): Species at risk. Research in Australia . Springer, Berlin and Heidelberg 1982, pp. 163-174, ISBN 978-3-642-68524-8 .
  • AR Main: Greenhouse Strategy for Western Australia . The Western Australian Greenhouse Coordinating Council, Perth 1990.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c S. D. Bradshaw: Albert Russell ('Bert') Main 1919-2009 , p. 105.
  2. ↑ a b c Anonymous: Bert Main . In: Australian Academy of Science Newsletter March 2010, No. 79, p. 11, Online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.science.org.au%2Ffiles%2Fuserfiles%2Fevents%2Fdocuments%2Faas79.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 849 kB.
  3. ^ A b S. Don Bradshaw: Obituary. Albert Russell (Bert) Main. Born: 6 March 1919. Died: 3 December 2009 , pp. 3-4.
  4. ^ AR Main: Some aspects of the evolution and speciation of the Western Australian fauna as illustrated by the genus Crinia (Anura, Leptodactylidae) . Ph.D. thesis, University of Western Australia, Perth 1955.
  5. ↑ a b c S. D. Bradshaw: Albert Russell ('Bert') Main 1919-2009 , p. 104.
  6. ^ SD Bradshaw: Albert Russell ('Bert') Main 1919-2009 , p. 106.
  7. ^ SD Bradshaw: Albert Russell ('Bert') Main 1919–2009 , pp. 109–110.
  8. ^ SD Bradshaw: Albert Russell ('Bert') Main 1919–2009 , pp. 110–111.
  9. ^ A b S. D. Bradshaw: Albert Russell ('Bert') Main 1919-2009 , pp 114-115.
  10. ^ Australian Academy of Science (ed.): National parks and nature reserves in Western Australia . Government Printer, Perth 1965, Online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Flibrary.dbca.wa.gov.au%2Fstatic%2FFullTextFiles%2F603747.e.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 18.7 MB.
  11. ^ SD Bradshaw: Albert Russell ('Bert') Main 1919–2009 , pp. 117–118.
  12. ^ SD Bradshaw: Albert Russell ('Bert') Main 1919–2009 , p. 119.
  13. ^ Australian Honors Search Facility , accessed May 13, 2018.
  14. ^ Australian Honors Search Facility , accessed May 13, 2018.
  15. ↑ Mark S. Harvey et al .: Refugia within refugia: in situ speciation and conservation of threatened Bertmainius (Araneae: Migidae), a new genus of relictual trapdoor spiders endemic to the mesic zone of south-western Australia . In: Invertebrate Systematics 2015, Volume 29, No. 6, pp. 511-553, doi : 10.1071 / IS15024 .
  16. ^ Ernest P. Hodgkin: Barbara York Main . In: Records of the Western Australian Museum 1995, Supplement 52, pp. Vii – xv, Online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fmuseum.wa.gov.au%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2F1.%2520Hodgkin.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 5.0 MB.
  17. ^ SD Bradshaw: Albert Russell ('Bert') Main 1919–2009 , pp. 107–109.
personal data
SURNAME Main, Albert Russell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Main, Bert (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian zoologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Perth , Western Australia
DATE OF DEATH December 3, 2009
Place of death Perth , Western Australia