James Van Remsen, Jr.
James Van Remsen, Jr. | |
---|---|
Born |
James Vanderbeek Remsen, Jr. September 21, 1949 Newark, New Jersey |
Citizenship | American |
Fields | ornithology |
Institutions | Louisiana Museum of Natural History, Louisiana State University |
Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
Thesis | Geographical ecology of Neotropical Kingfishers (1978) |
Doctoral advisor | Frank Pitelka |
Known for | Founder of the South American Classification Committee |
Notable awards | Brewster Medal |
Author abbrev. (zoology) | Remsen |
Spouse |
Catherine L. Cummins (m. 1988–present) |
James Vanderbeek "Van" Remsen, Jr. (born September 21, 1949 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American ornithologist. His main research field is the neotropical avifauna. In 1999, he founded the South American Classification Committee.[1] In 2013, he was honored with the Brewster Medal of the American Ornithologists' Union.[2]
Career
At the age of five Van Remsen developed his passion for field observation and at the age of eleven he was a keen birder. In 1967, he earned his high-school diploma at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In summer 1968 he worked for the Denver Wildlife Research Center.[2] In 1971, he graduated both to Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in biology at the Stanford University,[2] where among others Harold A. Mooney, David F. DeSante, and Paul Ehrlich were his advisors. In 1978, he was promoted to PhD in zoology at the University of California, Berkeley under the direction of Frank Pitelka with his dissertation Geographical ecology of Neotropical Kingfishers.[2] In the same year he became curator of the ornithological collection of the Louisiana State University.
During his undergraduation in 1977 he published the article On taking field notes in the journal American Birds which became much-noticed by field observers and American birders in the following decades.[2]
In collaboration with Melvin Alvah Traylor, Jr. Van Remsen spent three years in the remote areas of the Amazon and the Andes, a trip that became the basis for their work An Annotated List of the Birds of Bolivia which was published in 1989. In 1991, Van Remsen published the monograph Community Ecology of Neotropical Kingfishers.
To start a standardized classification and nomenclature of neotropical avifauna Van Remsen sent a proposal to the American Ornithologists' Union in 1997 to create a South American counterpart to the already known AOU Check-list Committee which covered the avifauna of the Western Hemisphere from Panama and north to the Caribbean.[1] In 1999, the proposal for the constitution of the South American Classification Committee (SACC) has been approved[1] and in October 2000 the first classification (on the split of the huayco tinamou (Rhynchotus maculicollis) from the red-winged tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens)) was available online.[3]
In 1998, he co-described (with Robb Thomas Brumfield) the subspecies Cinnycerthia fulva gravesi and Cinnycerthia fulva fitzpatricki of the fulvous wren.[4]
In 2003, he wrote the chapter of the family of ovenbirds (Furnariidae) in the eighth volume of the Handbook of the Birds of the World and in collaboration with Edward C. Dickinson he was co-author of the third edition of the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. In 2013, they collaborated again on the fourth edition of the Howard & Moore checklist on non-passerines.
In 2005, he was co-author (among others with John W. Fitzpatrick and Tim Gallagher) of a much-noticed article in the scientific journal Science where the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) was announced.[5]
Honors
In 2013, Van Remsen received the Brewster Medal of the American Ornithologists' Union for his contributions to the study, the taxonomy, and nomenclature of the South American avifauna.[2] In 1994, he has been commemorated with the species' epithet of the vulnerable chestnut-bellied cotinga (Doliornis remseni) which is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.[6]
References
- 1 2 3 J. V. Remsen, Jr.: The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithologists’ Union: a new classification of the birds of South America In: Neotropical Birding, July 13, 2007, p 21–23
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 The American Ornithologists' Union: William Brewster Memorial Award, 2013: J. V. (“Van”) Remsen, Jr. In: The Auk, 130(4):819–820.
- ↑ Proposal (1) to South American Classification Committee Elevate Rhynchotus maculicollis to species rank
- ↑ Remsen, J.V. & Brumfield, R.T. (1998) Two new subspecies of Cinnycerthia fulva (Aves: Troglodytidae) from the southern Andes. In: Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 111(4): 1008–1015.
- ↑ John W. Fitzpatrick, Martjan Lammertink, M. David Luneau, Tim W. Gallagher, Bobby R. Harrison, Gene M. Sparling, Kenneth V. Rosenberg, Ronald W. Rohrbaugh, Elliott C. H. Swarthout, Peter H. Wrege, Sara Barker Swarthout, Marc S. Dantzker, Russell A. Charif, Timothy R. Barksdale, J. V. Remsen, Scott D. Simon, Douglas Zollner: Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Persists in Continental North America. In: Science. 308, Nr. 5727, June 3, 2005, ISSN 1095-9203, p 1460–1462, doi:10.1126/science.1114103
- ↑ Mark B. Robbins, Gary H. Rosenberg, Francisco Sornoza Molina: A New Species of Cotinga (Cotingidae: Doliornis) from the Ecuadorian Andes, with Comments on Plumage Sequences in Doliornis and Ampelion. In: The Auk. Bd. 111, Nr. 1, January 1994, p 1–7