Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Russell S. Greenberg, 1953–2013

2014; Oxford University Press; Volume: 131; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1642/auk-13-241.1

1938-4254

Walter D. Koenig, Peter P. Marra,

Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies

Russ Greenberg (see photo), an Elective Member of the AOU since 1985 and a Fellow since 1991, died on October 24, 2013, at the age of 60 after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. Born in Washington, D.C., Russ moved across the country several times during his early years, as his father, Joseph Greenberg, pursued a career in microbiology. In 1958, the family finally settled in Palo Alto, California, where Russ spent most of his adolescent years. Although a laboratory scientist by profession, Russ’s father’s true love was birding. When Russ became interested in birds at the ripe old age of 8, Joe was only too happy to indulge Russ’s enthusiasm by engaging in weekend birding trips to the far reaches of California, as well as longer vacations during which finding new birds was a major goal. The 1960s and early 1970s was a golden age of California birding, and Russ, his father Joe, and his brother Doug were among the many hardcore birders of that era who scoured desert oases and small patches of trees along the California coast looking for vagrant warblers and other rarities. Russ began his transition to professional ornithology in 1971 when he started college, first at University of California Santa Cruz and then at University of California Berkeley, where he graduated in 1976. He proceeded to stay on at Berkeley for his Ph.D., which he received in 1981 under the direction of Frank Pitelka. He then accepted a postdoctoral position with Eugene Morton at the Smithsonian, where he remained for the duration of his career. Russ pioneered research on an astonishing number of important ornithological questions. His Ph.D. work on the evolutionary ecology and behavior of migratory and resident birds in tropical ecosystems laid the groundwork for his lifelong interest in how migratory species adapt to novel ecosystems and coexist with the resident avifauna. His interest in the interplay between morphological adaptations and foraging plasticity led Russ to begin a series of studies on the phenomenon of neophobia in 1983, well over a decade before animal personalities or behavioral syndromes became topics of wide interest in behavioral ecology. Russ’s deep interest in basic science never kept him from contributing significantly to the conservation of the species and habitats he loved. Russ was one of the key scientists in the nascent field of conservation biology who became alarmed by tropical deforestation. More profoundly, he recognized that certain crops could be grown in ways that minimized their negative impact on native ecosystems. Expanding on this simple concept, Russ Russ in the field on Santa Cruz Island, California, March 2013. Photo credit: Maybellene Gamboa