Robert C. Fleischer

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Robert Carl Fleischer (born June 24, 1955 in Glendale , California) is an American evolutionary geneticist and ornithologist. His research focus is avian genetics, especially the evolutionary biology of the Hawaiian avifauna .

Life

Fleischer has been a passionate bird watcher since he was 13. In 1973 he graduated from Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth , California. In 1978 he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara . In 1982, he graduated as a Master of Philosophy and in 1983 he was awarded the dissertation structure population genetic structure, and natural selection in the house sparrow to the Ph.D. PhD in systematics and ecology from the University of Kansas . After two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Fleischer worked at the university faculty for six years before moving to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in 1991 , where he developed the new conservation genetics program.

Since January 2006, he has been Director of the Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution , Washington, DC. and since 2012 he has been a senior scientist.

In 2012, Fleischer was awarded the William Brewster Medal by the American Ornithologists' Union .

Research work

In 1987, Fleischer published a study on the evolutionary ecology and distribution of Hawaiian passerines. In 2002, together with Beth Slikas , Isaac B. Jones and Scott R. Derrickson, he carried out an mtDNA analysis on Micronesian spectacled birds , which led to the separation of the Rota-eyeglass bird ( Zosterops rotensis ) from the guamilla bird ( Zosterops conspicillatus ). In 2002, together with Beth Slikas and Storrs L. Olson, he described the development of the flightlessness of four extinct species of rake in the Hawaiian Islands based on the extraction of DNA from bones and museum specimens. In 2006 he investigated the origin and spread of the pathogen Plasmodium relictum , which is held responsible for bird malaria in Hawaii and is a major threat to many endemic bird species. In the same year Fleischer and his colleagues demonstrated in a phylogenetic study that the Cuban ivory woodpecker had split off from the ivory woodpecker in the Middle Pleistocene and therefore support a species status. In 2008, together with Helen F. James and Storrs L. Olson, he established the Mohoidae family for the narrow- feathered honey-eater and the curly-tailed species ( Moho ), extinct songbirds that were originally assigned to the honey-eaters (Meliphagidae) family . In 2011 he described the Midway Shearwater ( Puffinus bryani ) together with Peter Pyle and Andreanna J. Welch . In 2014, together with Storrs L. Olson and Andreanna J. Welch, he demonstrated using a DNA study that the extinct St. Helena giant petrel does not belong to the genus Pseudobulweria , but to the genus Pterodroma .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Brewster Memorial Award, 2012: Robert C. Fleischer The Auk 130 (1), 2013: 201–202.
  2. ↑ LA Freed, S. Conant, RC Fleischer: Evolutionary ecology and radiation of Hawaiian passerine birds. Trends Ecol Evol. 1987 Jul; 2 (7): 196-203. doi : 10.1016 / 0169-5347 (87) 90020-6 .
  3. ↑ Beth Slikas, Isaac B. Jones, Scott R. Derrickson & Robert C. Fleischer: Phylogenetic relationships of Micronesian white-eyes based on mitochondrial sequence data The Auk. April 2000. pp. 355-365
  4. ↑ Slikas, B., SL Olson, RC Fleischer. 2002. Rapid, independent evolution of flightlessness in four species of Pacific Island rails (Rallidae): An analysis based on mitochondrial sequence data. In: Journal of Avian Biology 33: p. 5-14.
  5. ↑ Jon S Beadell, Farah Ishtiaq, Rita Covas, Martim Melo, Ben H. Warren, Carter T. Atkinson, Staffan Bensch, Gary R. Graves, Yadvendradev V. Jhala, Mike A. Peirce, Asad R. Rahmani, Dina M. Fonseca, Robert C. Fleischer: Global phylogeographic limits of Hawaii's avian malaria Proc Biol Sci. 2006 Dec 7; 273 (1604): 2935-2944. doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2006.3671
  6. ^ Robert C. Fleischer, Jeremy J. Kirchman , John P. Dumbacher, Louis Bevier, Carla Dove, Nancy C. Rotzel, Scott V. Edwards, Martjan Lammertink , Kathleen J. Miglia, William S. Moore: Mid-Pleistocene divergence of Cuban and North American ivory-billed woodpeckers . In: Biology Letters . tape 2 , no. 3 , 2006, p. 466–469 , doi : 10.1098 / rsbl.2006.0490 , PMID 17148432 , PMC 1686174 (free full text) - ( si.edu [PDF]).
  7. ↑ Fleischer, Robert C .; Helen F. James; Storrs L. Olson: Convergent Evolution of Hawaiian and Australo-Pacific Honeyeaters from Distant Songbird Ancestors . Current Biology (Cell Press) 18 (24), 2008: pp. 1927-1931. PMID 19084408 .
  8. ↑ Peter Pyle, Andreanna J. Welch and Robert C. Fleischer: A New Species of Shearwater (Puffinus) Recorded from Midway Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands . In: The Condor, issue 113, 3rd quarter: p. 518-527. 2011
  9. ↑ RC Fleischer, Storrs L. Olson and AJ Welch: Phylogenetic relationships of the extinct St Helena petrel, Pterodroma rupinarum Olson, 1975 (Procellariiformes: Procellariidae), based on ancient DNA Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 170 (3), 2014, 494 -505
personal data
SURNAME Fleischer, Robert C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fleischer, Robert Carl (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American evolutionary geneticist and ornithologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Glendale , California