Dr. George Richard Potts (6 December 1939 – 30 March 2017), known as Dick, was an internationally renowned

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 ...

and conservationist. He was a specialist in the

partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They a ...

. He is primarily associated with the

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (formerly the Game Conservancy Trust) is a British charitable organisation promoting game and wildlife management as a part of nature conservation, whilst working with the shooting and hunting community. For ...

(then known as the Game Conservation Trust) for which he started many successful conservation projects. He was director of the Game Conservation Trust from 1993 to 2001. He is the author of many scientific papers and some books. The focus of his research for which his most well-known is on the relationship between modern agriculture and game birds and animals. Potts was awarded the

RSPB Medal The RSPB Medal is awarded annually by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. According to the RSPB: The RSPB Medal is the Society's most prestigious award. It is presented to an individual in recognition of wild bird protection and countr ...

shortly before his death.

Biography

Early years

Dick Potts was raised in North Yorkshire on a farm where he learned first hand about the interaction between wildlife and farming. He was particularly affected by the

Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom The winter of 1946–1947 was a harsh European winter noted for its adverse effects in the United Kingdom. It caused severe hardships in economic terms and living conditions in a country still recovering from the Second World War. There were ma ...

as it killed many birds and other wild animals on his family's farm.

Education

Potts studied zoology at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

. He earned his PhD by studying the

European shag The European shag or common shag (''Gulosus aristotelis'') is a species of cormorant. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Gulosus''. It breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern Europe, southwest Asia and north Africa, mai ...

on England's

Farne Islands The Farne Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland, England. The group has between 15 and 20 islands depending on the level of the tide.

Career: Game Conservation Trust

In 1968, Potts joined the

(then known as the Game Conservation Trust) as a scientist and began both the Partridge Survival Project and the Sussex Study. Potts and colleague Paul Vickerman, based on work done in the Sussex Study, published the paper “Studies on the Cereal Ecosystem" in 1974 suggesting that agriculture and wildlife could coexist and should be studied along with pristine wild land. In 1976, Potts moved to

Fordingbridge Fordingbridge is a town and broader civil parish with a population of 6,000 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest, famed for its late medieva ...

, taking on the role of Directory of Research for the Game Conservation Trust in 1977. In this role, he extended the research of the Sussex Project to a series of experiments – the first was the Cereal and Gamebirds Project, the second was the Salisbury Plain Experiment. In 1993, Potts became the director of the Game Conservation Trust. As director, he helped turn Loddington Farm into a demonstration farm. He also championed the Joint Raptor Project. Potts retired from the Trust in 2001.

Retirement

In retirement Potts continued to work on Partridge habitat.

Conservation projects

Partridge Survival Project

The Partridge Survival Project began in April 1968 when Chris Hunt, the founding chairman of the

, assigned Dick Potts to explore the effects of pesticides on the

grey partridge The grey partridge (''Perdix perdix''), also known as the gray-legged partridge, English partridge, Hungarian partridge, or hun, is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. The scientific name ...

. Initially, 62 square kilometers of farmland in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, England was used for the project. The project focused on mortality among grey partridge chicks and tracked among other things the populations of various invertebrates that make up the diet of these young birds. In 1974 Dick Potts, together with entomologist Paui Vickerman, published “Studies on the Cereal Ecosystem" based on the work done in the project. The Partridge Survival Project became known as the Sussex Study.

Others

* Cereal and Gamebirds Project (

Conservation headland A conservation headland is a strip along the edge of an agricultural field, where pesticides are sprayed only in a selective manner. This increases the number and type of weed and insect species present, and benefits the bird species that depend o ...

) * Salisbury Plain Experiment * Joint Raptor Project

Publications

* ''Studies on the Cereal Ecosystem 1974'' * ''The Partridge. Pesticides, Predation and Conservation 1986''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Potts, Dick Scientists from Yorkshire English conservationists English ecologists English zoologists Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham 1939 births 2017 deaths