ISRS is pleased to announce that Dr.
J. E. N. (Charlie) Veron has been elected to receive the 2004 Darwin Medal. Dr. Veron
is Leading Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science
in Townsville, Queensland. ISRS President Dr. Nick Polunin will
present the medal and Dr. Veron will deliver a plenary address
at a ceremony in Okinawa scheduled for Tuesday 29 June.
For more information on the International Coral Reef Symposium,
please see www.plando.co.jp/icrs2004
Professor Yossi
Loya of Tel Aviv University, Israel, has made many fundamental contributions
to reef science. His early work on the community structure and
species diversity of Red Sea reefs formed the foundation for
many modern reef studies. In particular, the line-transect methodology
he adopted has been widely used worldwide. He also pioneered
investigations of reef-community dynamics through the exhaustive
study of life-history strategies of important reef-building species,
highlighting the contrasting reproductive strategies of Red Sea
corals with those from the Great Barrier Reef.
His studies on the effects of chronic oil pollution demonstrated
the potentially damaging influence of oil for the first time,
while sclerochronology of contemporary and fossil Red Sea corals
elegantly identified the previous climatology of the Sinai Desert.
More recently he, and his research group, have made important
contributions to bioerosion studies of coral reefs, to intra-colonial
transport of carbon and its regulation as well as to interactions
between elevated sea temperature and bacterial disease in the
Mediterranean coral Oculina patogonica.
The medal presentation took place at the Ninth International
Coral Reef Symposium in Bali, Indonesia in October 2000 where
Professor Loya gave an invited talk that will subsequently be
published as the "Darwin Lecture" in the ISRS journal
Coral Reefs.
Dr. Ian G. MacIntyre is the third recipient of the Charles Darwin
Medal, awarded by ISRS at the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium
in Panama, June 1996. This award, presented every four years
to a member of the Society, is in recognition of a record of
sustained, highly significant contributions to coral reef studies.
Previous medalists are Dr. David R. Stoddart (1988), Department
of Geography, University of California at Berkeley, and Dr. Peter
W. Glynn (1992), Rosentstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric
Science, University of Miami.
Dr. MacIntyre’s scientific contributions are diverse and
have resulted in new and important understanding in the areas
of submarine cementation, sea level history, bioerosion, diagenesis
of reef carbonates, sclerochronology, coral growth in relation
to water motion and irradiance fields, skeletal diagenesis in
calcareous algae, and the formation of stromatolites, mangrove
peat deposits, and algal ridges.
After eight years of experience in exploration geology, he earned
a Ph.D. in geology at McGill University, Montreal, Canada in
1967. His doctoral research focused on the growth history of
submerged coral reefs of the west coast of Barbados, West Indies.
This line of research, including studies of the low temperature
tolerances of living reef-building corals, was extended to the
continental margin of the southeastern United States while Ian
was a member of the research staff at the Duke University Marine
Laboratory from 1967 to 1970. Dr. MacIntyre moved to the Smithsonian
Institution in 1970 where he is currently a Division Supervisor
in Sedimentology, in the Department of Paleobiology. He was one
of the first to recognize the key role of submarine lithification
in coral reefs. He also pioneered a new approach in the 1970s
to reveal the internal structure of coral reefs through the use
of diver-operated hydraulic drill. This new direction sparked
similar studies of Holocene reef growth worldwide.
Besides such various direct contributions to reef research, Dr.
MacIntyre has also greatly facilitated advances in reef science
as president of ISRS (1983-1986), Geological Editor of Coral
Reefs, leader of field trips for the 1977 and 1996 International
Coral Reef Symposia, and most recently as Editor of the Atoll
Research Bulletin. It is altogether fitting that Ian MacIntyre
receive the Charles Darwin Medal in recognition of his outstanding
contributions to reef science and exemplary service to ISRS.
Dr. Peter Glynn was the second Darwin medalist receiving his
medal in 1992 at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Guam.
Dr. Glynn has had a distinguished scientific career, making many
significant contributions to the ecology of coral reefs. His
first work on coral reefs was in Puerto Rico where he developed
a budget of plankton uptake (consumption) by coral reef communities
at La Parguera. Later achievements included the discovery of
well-developed coral reefs in the eastern Pacific and their subsequent
ecological study; establishing the ecological significance of
crustacean symbionts which defend pocilloporid corals from Acanthaster
attack, and being the first scientist to relate coral bleaching
and mortality with elevated sea temperatures. His publications
in the latter field have been extensive and include numerous
reviews, papers documenting empirical findings and a book entitled "Global
Ecological Consequences of the 1982-83 El-Nino Southern Oscillation," which
was published by Elsevier. Dr. Glynn is probably the only reef
scientist to have received the "Best Paper Award" for
papers published in Coral Reefs on two occasions.
Dr. David Stoddart was the first person to be awarded the Darwin
medal by ISRS. He was the key energizer of the international
coral reef symposia, a founding member and initiator of the ISRS,
its first President, and subsequently coordinating editor of
Coral Reefs.
Dr. Stoddart has made significant contributions in all the major
reef provinces of the world, describing reef environments both
in the context of twentieth century developments in geological
and ecological thought and through re-evaluation of historical
descriptions of reefs. His work has been characterized by careful
field observations and by an ability to consider the interplay
of the different time and spaial scales of controlling processes,
including an appreciation of environmental variability and the
role of extreme events. He has made major contributions to the
understanding of sea level dynamics on Pleistocene, Holocene,
and historical time scales; to ocean basin biogeography; to coral
island floristics and ecology; and to the history of coral reef
science. He has also made notable contributions to coral conservation,
most particularly in the saving of Aldabra Atoll for science
for which he received the OBE from HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1979. |