Dr Robert E. Ricklefs is an American ornithologist and ecologist. He is the Curators' Professor of Biology at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Born in 1943, he graduated with an AB from Stanford University in 1963 and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967. He completed a year as a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute before taking up a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the 1982 recipient of the American Ornithologists' Union

American Ornithologists' Union

The American Ornithologists' Union is an ornithological organization in the USA. Unlike the National Audubon Society, its members are primarily professional ornithologists rather than amateur birders...

's William Brewster Memorial Award, the union's most prestigious award given annually for an exceptional body of work on birds of the Western Hemisphere. In 2003, he received the Pacific Seabird Group

Pacific Seabird Group

The Pacific Seabird Group is a United States based ornithological society, focusing on the behavior, ecology, and conservation of seabirds.-History:It was founded in 1972 as an association of professional seabird researchers and managers...

's Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on growth and development in seabirds. He was the 2006 recipient of the Cooper Ornithological Society

Cooper Ornithological Society

The Cooper Ornithological Society , formerly the Cooper Ornithological Club, was founded in 1893 in California. Its name commemorates James Graham Cooper, an early California biologist. It publishes the ornithological journal The Condor and the monograph series Studies in Avian Biology...

’s Loye and Alden Miller Research Award

Loye and Alden Miller Research Award

The Loye and Alden Miller Research Award was established in 1993 by the Cooper Ornithological Society to recognize lifetime achievement in ornithological research...

, which is given in recognition of lifetime achievement in ornithological research

Ornithology

Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...

.

During his career he has made major contributions to the island biogeography

Island biogeography

Island biogeography is a field within biogeography that attempts to establish and explain the factors that affect the species richness of natural communities. The theory was developed to explain species richness of actual islands...

, including testing E. O. Wilson's Taxon Cycle Concept. His most-cited scientific paper examined ecological communities. Recent work has sought to rescale the concept of an ecological community. His textbook "Ecology" was first published in 1973.

National Academy Member

Dr. Ricklefs was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

April 28, 2009.

Positions

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 1968-1972

Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 1972-1978

Professor, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 1978-1995

Curators’ Professor, Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1995-.