Andrew Burbidge

Andrew Arnold Burbidge (born February 2, 1942 in Arreton , Isle of Wight ), often also Andrew A. Burbidge , is a British - Australian biologist , conservationist and botanist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is “ AABurb. ".

Life

Burbidge is the son of Edward Humphrey and Janet Burbidge. In his childhood the family immigrated to Bunbury in Western Australia , where he received a school scholarship in 1955. In 1963 he received his Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Australia in Perth and in 1967 he was awarded the dissertation The biology of south-western Australian tortoises at the same university for Ph.D. PhD. He then worked for a year as an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin .

From late 1968 to 1978 he was a researcher at the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife of the Government of Western Australia in Perth. In 1976 he was a visiting scientist in British Columbia for the Ecological Reserves Program. From 1978 to 1985 he was head of research at the Department of Wildlife. From 1985 to 1987 he was a senior scientist in the Department of Nature Conservation and Land Management. From 1985 to 1987 he was head of the research department. From 1991 to 1993 he was chairman of the IUCN / SSC Australasian Marsupial and Monotreme Specialist Group. From 1992 to 2001 he chaired the Australian Government's Advisory Committee and Scientific Sub-Committee on Endangered Species. Since 2002 he has been a consulting nature conservation biologist. From 2006 to 2012 he was a board member of WWF Australia .

His research included the establishment and selection of nature reserves, biological studies in the Kimberley and the Western Desert cultural area , studies of island fauna, management of invasive mammal control programs, studies of indigenous oral mammalian information, fire ecology, and resettlement programs . Most of his research focuses on the mammals. However, he has also looked at birds including seabirds, reptiles (especially freshwater turtles) and frogs.

Burbidge's writings include The Birds of Pelsart Island, Western Australia (1981), Lake Magenta Nature Reserve (1981), The Noisy Scrub-bird (1984), Endangered Vertebrates of Australia and Its Island Territories (1984), Nature Conservation: The Role of Remnants of Native Vegetation (1987), The Management of Dryandra Forest for Wildlife Conservation (1987), Western Swamp Tortoise Recovery Plan (Pseudemydura umbrina) (2003), Threatened Animals of Western Australia (2004), Australia's Biodiversity and Climate Change (2010 ) and The Action Plan for Australian Mammals 2012 (2014).

In 2016, Burbidge described the three Beaufortia species Beaufortia kwongkanicola , Beaufortia raggedensis and Beaufortia burbidgeae from the myrtle family (Myrtaceae). He named the latter after his aunt, the Australian botanist Nancy Tyson Burbidge (1912–1977).

Awards and dedication names

In January 2014, Burbidge received the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) award in recognition of his outstanding services as a conservation biologist. In 1975 the skinkart Ctenotus burbidgei and in 1978 the Kimberley rock kangaroo ( Petrogale burbidgei ) were named after Andrew Burbidge.

literature

• Nicholas Polunin, Lynn M. Curme: World who is who and does what in environment and conservation . Earthscan, 1997, ISBN 978-1-85383-377-9 , p. 44

Web links

• Short biography at Prabook
• Bibliography at Researchgate
• Author entry and list of described plant names for Andrew Burbidge at the IPNI