Rohan David Pethiyagoda is a
Sri Lankan biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
scientist, amphibian and freshwater-fish
taxonomist
In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...
, author, conservationist and public-policy advocate.
Early life and career
Born in
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
, Sri Lanka, 19 November 1955 Pethiyagoda had his secondary education at
S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia
, motto_translation = Be Thou Forever
, song = Thomian Song
, athletics = Yes
, sports = Yes
, nickname = Thora
, denomination = Anglican
, patron ...
. He was awarded a
BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
(Eng.) Hons. in
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
from
King's College, University of London in 1977, and a
M.Phil.
The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...
in
Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...
from the
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
in 1980.
Service
From 1981 to 1982 Pethiyagoda served as an engineer in the Division of Biomedical Engineering of the Sri Lankan
Ministry of Health, and from 1982 to 1987 as director of that institution. That same year he was awarded the Vadamarachchi Medal by President J.R. Jayewardene for his services to the Sri Lanka Armed Forces during the Vadamarachchi Campaign. In 1984 he was concurrently appointed chairman of Sri Lanka's Water Resources Board. He served as Advisor on Environment and Natural resources to the Government of Sri Lanka from 2002 to 2004 and was in 2005 elected Deputy Chair of the
IUCN Species Survival Commission
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...
.
In 2008 Pethiyagoda was elected to the board of trustees of the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, having previously served a four-year term as Deputy Chair of the Assurance Group of the
British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2019, it is the large ...
Biodiversity Partnership. In 2009 he was appointed a Research Associate of the Australian Museum, Sydney, and from 2015 to 2018 he served as Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board. On 22 June 2022, Pethiyagoda was appointed Senior Policy Adviser to Sajith Premadasa, MP, Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka.
Naturalist life
He resigned from government office in 1987 to commence work on a project to explore the island's freshwater fishes,
which led to his first book in 1990, ''Freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka'',
[ an illustrated account of the country's freshwater-fish fauna.]
Pethiyagoda diverted the profits from this book to an endowment for the Wildlife Heritage Trust (WHT), a foundation he established in 1990 to further biodiversity exploration in Sri Lanka, with the business-model of publishing natural-history books and channeling the proceeds into further exploration and research. Between 1991 and 2012 WHT published some 40 books in both English and Sinhala, including titles such as ''A field guide to the birds of Sri Lanka'', one of several titles translated into Sinhala and, aided by a grant from the Biodiversity Window of the World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
/ Netherlands Partnership Programme, provided free to 5,000 school libraries. This program aimed, for the first time in Sri Lanka, to put scientific local-language biodiversity texts in the hands of young people. Pethiyagoda has also been outspoken in his advocacy of policy reform in Sri Lanka, writing on subjects such as biopiracy, abortion and sexual ethics in the media, in addition to lecture-videos on diverse topics including nutrition, agricultural policy, and economic and political reform.
Discoveries
Together with colleagues at WHT Pethiyagoda has been responsible for the discovery and/or description
Description is the pattern of narrative development that aims to make vivid a place, object, character, or group. Description is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narr ...
of almost 100 new species of vertebrates from Sri Lanka, including fishes, amphibians and lizards, in addition to 43 species of freshwater crabs. This work also led to the finding that some 19 species of Sri Lankan amphibians have become extinct in the past 130 years, the highest national extinction record in the world.
Recognition
In 1998, concerned by the rapid loss of montane forest
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...
in Sri Lanka, Pethiyagoda began a (still on-going) project to convert abandoned tea plantation
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
s into natural forest, for which he was honoured by the Rolex Awards for Enterprise.
In 2022, he received the Linnean Medal
The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...
from the Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
, becoming the first Sri Lankan and only the second Asian to receive this award since its inception in 1888.
In recognition of his contribution to biodiversity conservation Pethiyagoda was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka
The National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka (NASSL) is a high level, non-governmental scientific body, established in 1976, it was granted incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1988. The National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka fulfills ...
. In addition to some 60 papers in the scientific literature, his most recently published books are on the history of natural-history exploration in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan primates, Horton Plains National Park
Horton Plains National Park ( si, හෝර්ටන් තැන්න ජාතික උද්යානය, Hortan Thanna Jathika Udyanaya) is a national park in the central highlands of Sri Lanka that was designated in 1988. It is locate ...
and the biogeography of Sri Lanka. He is a Research Associate of the Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
and serves as editor for Asian Freshwater Fishes of the journal ''Zootaxa
''Zootaxa'' is a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists. It is published by Magnolia Press (Auckland, New Zealand). The journal was established by Zhi-Qiang Zhang in 2001 and new issues are published multiple times a week. ...
''.
Legacy
Several new species have been named in his honour, including the fishes ''Dawkinsia rohani
''Dawkinsia rohani'' is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus ''Dawkinsia''. It is endemic to the Western Ghats and inhabits the hill streams of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu draining into the Arabian Sea.
Etymology
The fish is named ...
'' and ''Rasboroides rohani
''Rasboroides rohani'', is a species of freshwater cyprinid fish endemic to Sri Lanka where only known from shallow, slow-flowing, shady streams near Suriyakanda in the Walawe River basin. It was scientifically described in 2013, but a comprehe ...
''; the microhylid frog ''Uperodon rohani
''Uperodon rohani'', commonly known as Rohan's globular frog, is a species of Microhylid frog. It is endemic to Sri Lanka.
Etymology
It was named after Rohan Pethiyagoda, a scientist who is renowned for his works on Sri Lankan fishes and amp ...
';'' the dragon lizard ''Calotes pethiyagodai
The Pethiyagoda's crestless lizard (''Calotes pethiyagodai'') is an agamid lizard endemic to Sri Lanka. Locally known as පෙතියාගොඩගේ නොසිලු කටුස්සා (Pethiyagodage nosilu katussa).
Description
Res ...
''; the jumping spider '' Onomastus pethiyagodai'' and the dragonfly '' Macromidia donaldi pethiyagodai''. In 2020, a team of scientists led by S. D. Biju named a new genus of South and Southeast Asian tree frogs '' Rohanixalus'' in Pethiyagoda's honour.
In July 2012 Pethiyagoda and colleagues named a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of South Asian freshwater fish
Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, especially the difference in levels of s ...
es ''Dawkinsia
''Dawkinsia'' is a genus of cyprinid fishes from freshwater in South India and Sri Lanka. It was split off from genus '' Puntius'' in 2012.
Etymology
''Dawkinsia'' is named after the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in recognition of h ...
'' in honour of the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
, following which Pethiyagoda told AFP that "Richard Dawkins has through his writings helped us understand that the universe is far more beautiful and awe-inspiring than any religion has imagined". Pethiyagoda also named the freshwater cyprinid genus ''Haludaria
''Haludaria'' is a genus of cyprinids native to freshwater habitats in the Western Ghats of India. Originally the genus was named ''Dravidia'' Pethiyagoda, Meegaskumbura & Maduwage, 2012 which is preoccupied by the dipteran genus ''Dravidia'' L ...
'' after the Begali youth known only as Haludar, who illustrated the fishes depicted in Francis Hamilton's (1822) "Fishes of the Ganges", the founder work of Indian ichthyology.
Taxa described by Pethiyagoda
*See :Taxa named by Rohan Pethiyagoda
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pethiyagoda, Rohan
1955 births
Living people
Alumni of King's College London
Sri Lankan emigrants to Australia
Sinhalese activists
Sinhalese zoologists
Sri Lankan environmentalists