Per Alström

Per Johan Alström (born April 9, 1961 ) is a Swedish ornithologist and lecturer in systematics and evolutionary research .

Life

Alström first studied medicine and biology at the University of Gothenburg . He was with the dissertation 2,002 species limits and Systematics in Some Passerine Birds for Ph.D. at the Uppsala University doctorate.

From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, Alström worked for the Swedish West Coast Avifaunistic Commission, including as chair. From 1981 to 1990 he was a member of the Swedish Rarity Commission. In 1988 he worked for the British bird journal Birding World and in 1992 for the German magazine Limicola as a consultant for the identification of birds. Alström has been the Swedish representative of the Oriental Bird Club (OBC) since 1985 . In 1996 Alström was a founding member of the Committee for English Common Names of the Palearctic Sub-Commission within the International Ornithological Committee .

Alströms research focuses on the provision and scheme of birds. Larger projects included taxonomic studies of different species of warbler-like (together with Urban Olsson ), the larks of Holarctic and the pipits and stilts . Alström made extensive trips to the Holarctic region, mainly to Asia and especially to China. In 1991 he published the book A Field Guide to the rare Birds of Britain with Peter Colston and Ian Lewington . In 2002 the work Pipits and Wagtails of Europe, Asia and North America , which Alström wrote together with Krister Mild and Bill Zetterström, was published. In 2004 he wrote alongside Eduardo de Juana, Francisco Suárez, Peter Ryan and Paul Donald the chapter on the larks (Alaudidae) in the ninth volume of the Handbook of the Birds of the World and in 2006 he wrote together with Franz Bairlein , Raül Aymí, Peter Clement , Andrzej Dyrcz , Gabriel Gargallo, Frank Hawkins , Steve Madge , David Pearson and Lars Svensson read the chapter on the warbler family (Sylviidae) in the eleventh volume of the Handbook of the Birds of the World . In 2012, Alström was part of the team of authors who wrote Birds of Central Asia . He has also written numerous articles for international journals, including Birding World , British Birds , Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club , Dutch Birding , Forktail , Ibis , Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society , Limicola , Sandgrouse , Strix and Vär Fägelvärld , where he also worked in the editorial office. Alström often made illustrations for his articles and was responsible for the cover design of some magazine issues. Alström's drawings are exhibited in galleries in Sweden and the United Kingdom. In 1992 Alström won the Swedish Bird Draftsman of the Year competition . In 1995 he received the Ornithological Research Award of the Swedish Ornithological Society .

Since 2007 Alström has worked on the database (Artdatabanken) of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences . Before that, he worked as a scientist at the Department of Systematic Zoology at Uppsala University and at the Naturhistoriska riksmuseet . He chairs the Swedish Animal Names Committee and the Swedish Contact Point for the Global Taxonomy Initiative .

In 1999 Alström and Urban Olsson described the Thai warbler ( Seicercus soror ), also known as Alström's Warbler. In 2014 he introduced the new Elachuridae family for the spotted wren stimalia ( Elachura formosa ). In 2015 he described the Sichuan swirl ( Locustella chengi ) together with several Chinese and international ornithologists, including Pamela C. Rasmussen . 2016 was followed by the Walderddrossel ( Zoothera salimalii ) and the subspecies Acrocephalus scirpaceus ambiguus of the reed warbler .

literature

• John E. Pemberton: Who's Who in Ornithology , Buckingham Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-9514965-8-9 , p. 21
• Bo Beolens, Michael Grayson, Michael Watkins: The Eponym Dictionary of Birds. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.

Web links

• Per Alström . Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
• Per Alström Bibliography at ORCID