Person

Schodde, Richard (1936 - )

OAM

Born
23 September 1936
Occupation
Ornithologist

Summary

Richard Schodde was a widely recognised ornithologist and foundation Curator/Director of the Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Division of Wildlife and Ecology (1970-1998), where he later became a Research Fellow.

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Details

Richard Schodde was foundation Curator/Director of the Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Division of Wildlife and Ecology (1970-1998). He later became a Research Fellow there. From around 1970 to 2000 Schodde led the bird and vegetation surveys that helped set up Kakadu National Park and produced the biogeographical grounds in birds that contributed significantly to the designation of the wet tropics of northeast Queensland as Australia's first World Heritage Area. Overall the surveys under his direction lead to the collection of almost 50,000 specimens, plus 15,000 samples of cryo-frozen tissue for molecular study. Schodde built it into the most comprehensive and research-effective collection of Australian birds in the world.

He also published over 150 papers, books and booklets covering the systematics, biogeography and evolutionary history of Australasian birds, generating the theory of a rainforest (and possibly Gondwanan) origin for Australia's modern bird fauna and advancing the biodiversity unit concept for the conservation of Australia's birdlife. Richard Schodde was a Corresponding Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union; chairman of the Standing Committee on Ornithological Nomenclature, International Ornithological Committee; convener of symposia on the origin and evolutionary radiations of Australasian birds at International Ornithological Congresses of 1974 and 1990 and was twice awarded the Whitley Medal: for Nocturnal Birds of Australia (1981, with I. Mason) and The Fairy Wrens (1982).

Chronology

1960
Education - Bachelor of Science with Honours (BSc(Hons)), University of Adelaide
1960s
Career position - Botanist with the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Division of Land Research and Regional Survey in Papua New Guinea
1970
Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Adelaide
1970 - 1998
Career position - Foundation Curator and Director of the Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology
1998 -
Career position - Research Fellow with the Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
2009
Award - Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to science, particularly in the field of ornithology

Published resources

Edited Books

  • Davis, William E.; Recher, Harry E.; Boles, Walter E.; and Jackson, Jerome A. eds, Contributions to the History of Australasian Ornithology (Cambridge (Mass.) : Nuttall Ornithological Club, 2008), 481 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Schodde, Richard, 'The Mathews Collection and the Birds of Australia', National Library of Australia News (2000), 3-6. Details

Resources

See also

  • Robin, Libby, The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001), 492 pp. Details

Rosanne Walker

Created: 19 April 2001, Last modified: 5 March 2024

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