Joel Asaph Allen

Joel Asaph Allen.

Joel Asaph Allen (born July 19, 1838 in Springfield , Massachusetts , † August 29, 1921 in Cornwall-on-Hudson , New York ) was an American zoologist with a focus on mammals ( mammalogy ) and ornithology ( ornithology ).

life and work

Allen studied at Wilbraham Academy in Springfield and later at Harvard University with Louis Agassiz . With this he traveled to Brazil in 1865. From 1867 to 1885 he was a curator for birds and mammals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City . In 1871 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1876 to the National Academy of Sciences . In 1921 he also died in New York.

Allen was one of the leading systematists and ornithologists in the United States and was instrumental in the development and establishment of the nomenclature rules in zoology. In addition, he dealt with the influence of ecological factors on the anatomy of animals and established the Allen's rule, named after him, for the influence of climate on the length of the beak and the wings of birds. It says that with homoiothermal (equally warm) organisms, the relative length of exposed body parts (extremities, tails, ears) in cold climates is smaller than with related species and subspecies in warmer areas.

Fonts

with Elliott Coues : Monographs of North American Rodentia . 1877 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.16063 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.38255
History of North American pinnipeds: a monograph of the walruses, sea-lions, sea-bears and seals of North America . 1880 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.23136 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.1921 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.19629
Descriptions of new species of South American birds with remarks on various other little known species . In: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History . tape 2 , no. 3 , 1889, p. 137-151 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
Review of the South American Sciuridae . In: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History . tape 34 , no. 8 , 1915, p. 147–309 (English, digitallibrary.amnh.org [PDF; 29.8 MB ]).

supporting documents

↑ ^a ^b ^c Allen, Joel Asaph In: Ilse Jahn : History of Biology. Theories, methods, institutions, short biographies . Nikol VG Spectrum, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-937872-01-9 .
^ Allen's rule of proportion. In: Herder-Lexikon der Biologie. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-8274-0354-5 .

literature

Frank Michler Chapman : In Memoriam: Joel Asaph Allen . In: The Auk . tape 39 , no. 1 , 1944, pp. 1–14 ( online [PDF; 739 kB ; accessed on July 26, 2011]).

personal data
SURNAME	Allen, Joel Asaph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American zoologist and ornithologist
DATE OF BIRTH	July 19, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH	Springfield , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH	August 29, 1921
Place of death	Cornwall-on-Hudson , New York State

[Jahn_2004-1] Allen, Joel Asaph In: Ilse Jahn : History of Biology. Theories, methods, institutions, short biographies . Nikol VG Spectrum, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-937872-01-9 .

[Allensche_Proportionsregel-2] Allen's rule of proportion. In: Herder-Lexikon der Biologie. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-8274-0354-5 .