27 May, 2005 News stories

Professor John Croxall, CBE of the British Antarctic Survey has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. Professor Croxall is Head of Conservation Biology at the British Antarctic Survey. This honour regonises his pioneering work with marine mammals and seabirds, particularly albatrosses, and his role in applying scientific research in the fields of conservation and management. In Antarctica (particularly at South Georgia) he has developed and used new ways of studying diet, movements and energetics of ocean-living animals during swimming, diving and flight. He initiated the collection of co-ordinated long-term data on dynamics of Southern Ocean top predators, which now underpins management of Antarctic marine living resources through an International convention (CCAMLR) and the assessment of biological consequences of regional climate change. Recently, he has also led global initiatives to manage Southern Ocean fisheries to minimise by-catch, especially of albatrosses and has coordinated international programmes to map, using remote tracking, the core distribution and migration routes of albatrosses. Director of BAS, Professor Chris Rapley, CBE said, “This is a most appropriate and deserved reflection of John’s long and distinguished contribution to environmental science, and to his standing as a foremost world expert in the field of higher predators research. It also represents an important recognition by the UK’s most senior scientific body of the calibre of BAS science.” To read more about the Royal Society Fellowship see: http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk.