Yen, Alan Louey (1950 - 2017)

Summary

Alan Yen was an entomologist and invertebrate ecologist whose research interests ranged from the promotion of habitat preservation of the Gippsland giant earthworm and the potential for insects to become a major source of dietary protein. He was a recognised authority on the systematics and ecology of psyllids. During his 20 years with the National Museum of Victoria Yen was instrumental in the cataloguing of taxa in significant Victorian habitats both as a record of the biota and as a means of measuring environmental health. Other research was on risks associated with wind dispersal of insects. His advocacy led to the inclusion of living arachnids in highly popular Museum displays. Yen was active in the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria for over 30 years being President from 2007 to 2009, and a moving force behind the inauguration of the Terrestrial Invertebrates Group and the 2005 symposium to celebrate the Club's history. His published output included popular guides of Victoria's spiders and scorpions, and Australia's invertebrates. He worked with colleagues to publish the manuscript of the 6th volume of Charles French's Handbook of the destructive insects of Victoria, "lost" for 100 years.

Details

Chronology

1981 - 2001

Career position - Curator, Invertebrate Survey Department, National Museum of Victoria

2001 - ?

Career position - Associate Professor, La Trobe University

2001 - ?

Career position - Research Leader in Invertebrate Sciences, Victorian Department of Primary Industries

2001 - 2010

Career position - Council Member, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria

2002 - 2013

Career position - Convenor, Terrestrial Invertebrate Group, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria

2005 - 2007

Career position - Member of Council, Royal Society of Victoria

2007 - 2009

Career position - President, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Yen, Alan L., 'The contribution of the Horn Expedition to our knowledge of terrestrial invertebrates in central Australia' in Exploring Central Australia: society, the environment and the 1894 Horn Expedition, Morton, S. R. and Mulvaney, D. J., eds (Chipping Norton, N.S.W.: Surrey Beatty & Sons, 1996), pp. 230-44. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Vale Alan Louey Yen 20 May 1950 - 20 March 2017', Victorian Entomologist, 47 (3) (2017), 63-5. Details
• New, Tim and Walker, Ken, 'Obituary: Alan Louey Yen 20 May 1950 - 20 March 2017', Myrmecia: News Bulletin of the Australian Entomological Society, 53 (2) (2017), 2-5. Details
• Presland, Gary, 'Alan Louey Yen 20 May 1950 - 20 March 2017', The Victorian naturalist, 143 (3) (2017), 84-5. Details
• Yen, A. L. [and others], 'McCoy's Prodromus of the zoology of Victoria: an unfinished task', The Victorian naturalist, 118 (6) (2001), 242-55. Details

Resources

• 'Yen, Alan Louey (18500520-20170320)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1772612. Details