Bruce Beehler

Bruce Beehler, 2018

Bruce McPherson Beehler (born October 11, 1951 in Baltimore , Maryland ) is an American ornithologist , ecologist and conservationist . He is considered an expert on New Guinea's avifauna .

Life

Bruce Beehler's parents William Henry and Cary Beehler (nee Baxter) were merchants. In 1974 he graduated from Williams College in Williamstown , Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1978 he received his Masters of Arts degree from Princeton University . In 1983 he graduated with his doctoral thesis " The Behavioral Ecology of four Birds of Paradise " for Ph.D. Beehler's work focuses on nature conservation biology and tropical ecology . He has been studying New Guinea's biodiversity since 1975 . His expedition, initiated by the organization Conservation International , to the largely unexplored Foja Mountains of Western New Guinea in December 2005 caused an international sensation , where he and his team discovered around 40 new animal species and the world's first photos of the Berlepschparadiesvogel and the yellow-headed gardener . On another expedition to the Foja Mountains in June 2007, accompanied by a film team from the news magazine 60 Minutes , he discovered a new species of giant tree rat and a new species of sleeping baggy . He also traveled to India , Madagascar , Indonesia , the Philippines , Panama and the Ivory Coast . Beehler has authored several books on bird life and the ecology of New Guinea, including Upland birds of northeastern New Guinea: A guide to the hill and mountain birds of Morobe Province (1978), Species-checklist of the birds of New Guinea (1985), Birds of New Guinea (1986, 2014, 2016 (revised new edition) with Thane K. Pratt ), A Naturalist in New Guinea (1991), The Birds of Paradise (1998), The Ecology of Indonesian Papua (2 volumes) (2007), Lost Worlds: Adventures in the tropical rainforest (2008), North on the Wing: Travels with the Songbird Migration of Spring (2018) and New Guinea: Nature and Culture of Earth's Grandest Island (2020, with Tim Laman).

Bruce Beehler has been married to Carol Elizabeth Hare (a graphic designer ) since 1982 . In 2007 he named the Carola honey eater ( Melipotes carolae ) after his wife.

Taxa named after Beehler

In 1977 Sidney Dillon Ripley named the New Ireland subspecies of the South Sea thrush Turdus poliocephalus beehleri after Beehler, who collected the holotype in 1976 . In 1999, the botanist Wayne Takeuchi from the Bernice P. Bishop Museum honored Bruce Beehler with the epithet of the plant species Glochidion beehleri from the Phyllanthaceae family , which occurs in western New Guinea.

literature

• Pamela M. Kalte: American Men & Women of Science: A biographical directory of today's leaders in physical, biological and related sciences. P. 434. Thomson & Gale. 2003. ISBN 978-0-7876-6524-1
• Susan M. Trosky: Contemporary Authors: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures p. 30. Gale Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-8103-1952-3

Web links

• Conservation International employee profile