John Stanley Beard (15 February 1916 – 17 February 2011) was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
-born
forester
A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...
and
ecologist
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
who resided in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. Beard studied at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
where he completed his doctoral thesis on tropical forestry.
While working with the Forestry Division in
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
during the 1940s, Beard developed a system of forest classification for
Tropical America and described the forests of
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
,
Tobago
Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...
, and the
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...
; these descriptions remain standard references on the topics.
After leaving Trinidad, Beard moved to
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
and then to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, where he produced an extensive series of vegetation maps covering much of the country.
His extensive surveys of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
set standards for understanding regional floristic zones and
biogeographical
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, i ...
areas for the whole state. He was the main author of the 1964–1981 explanatory notes to the mapping project of the ''
Vegetation Survey of Western Australia'', which involved travelling some 150,000 kilometres. He was also foundation director of the
Kings Park and Botanic Garden
Kings Park, (Noongar: ''Kaarta Gar-up'') is a park overlooking Perth Water and the central business district of Perth, Western Australia.
The park is a mixture of grassed parkland, botanical gardens and natural bushland on Mount Eliza with ...
between 1961 and 1970.
[Keighery, B. and G., ‘Beard, John Stanley’, in R. Aitken and M. Looker (eds), ''Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens'', South Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 80][Dixon, Kingsley W. (2006) ''Celebration of a life in botany.'' Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia vol. 89, pt. 3, (Sept. 2006), p. 93-97] He was subsequently director of the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is a heritage-listed major botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government ar ...
(1970–72) before retiring to
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. During his directorship, many of Western Australia’s unique native plants were brought into cultivation for the first time.
Beard edited the ''Descriptive Catalogue of Western Australian Plants'' (1965), which was published by the Society for Growing Australian Plants, to promote understanding of the
horticultural
Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
requirements of Western Australia’s native plants.
In his retirement, he produced popular accounts of his vegetation studies in ''Plant Life of Western Australia'' (1990), and of his taxonomic and horticultural studies of ''
Protea
''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos'').
Etymology
The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...
'' spp. in ''Proteas of Tropical Africa'' (1992).
Beard received an OAM in 2003.
[ He died in February 2011 at the age of 95.]
References
* Beard, J.S. 1990. ''Checklist of the coastal flora of the South-West Botanical Province, Western Australia.'' Kingia, Vol. 1, no. 3 (1990), p. 255-281
Interview
* Interview with Alice Smith in 1986 - Held in Battye Library
The J S Battye Library (more properly known as the J. S. Battye Library of West Australian History) is an arm of the State Library of Western Australia. It stores much of the state's historical records and original publications including books, ...
3rd Floor Oral History OH1735 A/r 2 sound cassettes.with Transcript (typescript, 22 p.) Director of Kings Park. Talks about establishment of and highlights of his time there 1961-1970. Includes personal background. https://web.archive.org/web/20141129033601/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b1794327~S2 .
See also
* Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia
The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities. It was devel ...
* Ecoregions in Australia
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, John Stanley
Biogeography of Western Australia
Botany in Western Australia
British ecologists
Environment of Trinidad and Tobago
2011 deaths
1916 births
Australian foresters
British foresters
British emigrants to Australia