Allan John Baker (9 July 1943 – 20 November 2014) was a Canadian ornithologist of New Zealand descent. He was an authority on wading birds;

red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the ''Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...

s in particular were one of his main research fields.

Career

Baker grew up on a farm near Collingwood, Golden Bay, New Zealand. In 1972, he graduated with a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

with a thesis on the ecology and evolution of

oystercatcher The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The e ...

s titled 'Systematics and affinities of New Zealand oystercatchers.' In the same year he moved to Canada where he started as assistant curator of the ornithology department at the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

in Toronto. In 1976, he became associate curator and head of the Ornithology Department. In 1995, he became director of the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology and in 2004 head of the Department of Biology at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 1981, he was promoted to senior curator.

Accolades

In 2006, he received the Speirs Award by the

Society of Canadian Ornithologists The Society of Canadian Ornithologists, or Société des Ornithologistes du Canada, is an ornithological non-profit organization serving Canada’s ornithological community. It was founded in 1983, and is a member of the Ornithological Council. Th ...

. In 2007, he was awarded with the

Brewster Medal The William Brewster Memorial Award, usually referred to as the Brewster Medal, is awarded by the American Ornithologists' Union and is named for ornithologist William Brewster. It is given to an author, or coauthors who are not previous recipien ...

of the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

Works

* Baker, Allan J., Patricia M. Gonzalez, Theunis Piersma, Lawrence J. Niles, Ines de Lima Serrano do Nascimento, Philip W. Atkinson, Nigel A. Clark, Clive DT Minton, Mark K. Peck, and Geert Aarts. "Rapid population decline in red knots: fitness consequences of decreased refuelling rates and late arrival in Delaware Bay."

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'' is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905: * Series A: for papers in physical sciences and mathematics. * Series B: for papers in life s ...

. Series B: Biological Sciences 271, no. 1541 (2004): 875–882. * BAKER, ALLAN J. "Mitochondrial control region sequences as tools for understanding evolution." Avian molecular evolution and systematics (1997): 51–82. * Haddrath, Oliver, and Allan J. Baker. "Complete mitochondrial DNA geonome sequences of extinct birds: ratite phylogenetics and the vicariance biogeography hypothesis."

. Series B: Biological Sciences 268, no. 1470 (2001): 939–945.

References

* Theunis Piersma:
In grateful remembrance: Allan J. Baker, 1943–2014
'. Wader Study Group Bulletin, Volume 121, Issue 3, 2015. International Wader Study Group {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Allan J. 1943 births 2014 deaths Scientists from Toronto Canadian ornithologists New Zealand emigrants to Canada University of Canterbury alumni