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The D.L. Serventy Medal may be awarded annually for outstanding published work on birds in the Australasian region. It has been awarded for the last 20 years and is the highest award offered to professional ornithologists by Birds Australia.
2011 Serventy Medallist
Dr David Paton is an ornithologist and ecologist with more than 30 years experience in conservation biology. His first publication, First record of the Leaden Flycatcher in South Australia, was published in Emu in 1965, the same year he became a member of the RAOU. He is well known for his pioneering publications on the ecology of Australian honeyeaters, particularly the importance of manna, honeydew and lerp in their diet. More recently, he is renowned for his work on bird conservation and habitat restoration in woodlands of South Australia and the environmental restoration of wetlands around the mouth of the Murray River. Recent outstanding publications include lead authorship of Birds Australia’s State of Australia’s Birds - Restoring woodland habitat for birds in 2009 and a number of papers on the Coorong eg A future for the Coorong and Lower Lakes published in Pacific Conservation Biology (2009). He has worked tirelessly to draw attention to the plight of this area through extensive field work, numerous media engagements, membership of advisory boards, and various scientific and general publications, notably his book At the End of the River - The Coorong and Lower Lakes published in 2010.
 David has been at the University of Adelaide since 1983 where he has supervised more than 100 honours and post-graduate students. He has trained and inspired them to be passionate conservation biologists and in turn they are now spreading their own spheres of influence for better environmental outcomes (eg some graduate students are now working within the SA Government). David has won dozens of grants for Conservation Biology totalling over $4M, including a prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship and ARC Australian Research Fellowship. He is currently Associate Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. His dedication to conservation and teaching has won him many accolades including being made a Member General Order of Australia in 2008.
David’s publication record is outstanding, with 89 peer reviewed articles and book chapters and more than 100 short notes and unpublished reports. This work has dealt with more than 40 species of birds in Australia as well as bird groups, particularly honeyeaters, woodland birds, waterbirds and waders. His work spans ecology and conservation, bird-plant interactions, threatening processes, habitat restoration and species recovery. He is highly respected for his ability to apply conservation science to influence government policy and public opinion for improved environmental outcomes.
David has complemented his publication record through outstanding leadership and long-term commitment in his many other contributions to Australian ornithology in South Australia and through Birds Australia. Some highlights are: BA – Councillor 1995-1999, Research and Conservation Committee 2003- 2009 and Congress coordinator 1986 and 1999; Editorial boards – of Ecological Management and Restoration (2004-2006), South Australian Ornithologist (1997- ) and Emu (1999-2005); Recovery Team membership for Glossy and Red-tailed Black Cockatoos and Mt Lofty Ranges Southern Emu Wren; Steering Committee for assessment of NHT Biodiversity Outcomes.
Dr David Paton AM has an outstanding record as a leader in ornithology in Australia and is a most worthy recipient of the D.L. Serventy Medal.
Nominations
Nominations for the medal for 2012 should be sent to
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, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. Please send a one page citation, a copy of a recent curriculum vitae listing all publications and the names of two referees by February 28 2012.
Dominic Louis Serventy (1904-1988)
Dom Serventy was born in Kalgoorlie in 1904, and died in Perth in 1988. He was educated at the Universities of Western Australia (BSc) and Cambridge (PhD 1933). Serventy was a lecturer in zoology at the University of Western Australia from 1934 to 1937, a research officer at the CSIRO Fisheries Division from 1937 to 1951 and officer-in-charge, at CSIRO Wildlife Survey Division, Perth, from 1951 to 1969. He was interested in all aspects of ornithology, from biogeography and speciation to breeding seasons and general biology, and had a long-term influence on conservation. He was President of the RAOU from 1947 to 1949, and a fellow from 1952. He won the Australian Natural History Medallion in 1956, was a member of the Western Australian Wildlife Authority 1943-74, editor of Western Australian Naturalist 1947-80, member of the Permanent Executive Committee of the International Ornithological Congress 1966-78, and fellow of the Western Australian Museum from 1974. With his brother Vincent and sister Lucy, he revived the Western Australian Naturalists' Club after World War Two. He produced extensive sets of bird distribution maps and wrote The Handbook of Australian Seabirds (1971) with Vincent Serventy and John Warham and Birds of Western Australia (five editions between 1948 and 1976) with H.M. Whittell.
(Text adapted from The Flight of the Emu: A Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 (2001), by Libby Robin.)
The Serventy Medal Committee
The Serventy Medal Committee is a subcommittee of the Research and Conservation Committee (RACC), which assesses nominations for the award and recommends medal winners for consideration by RACC. Currently, the chair of the committee is
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.
The award follows a set of Guidelines, and the committee also has Terms of Reference. |
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Serventy Medallists
2010 Professor David Lindenmayer
2009 Dr Carla Catteral
2008 Prof Stephen Garnett & Dr Gabriel Crowley
2007 Dr Michael Clarke
2006 Dr Denis Saunders
2005 Lesley & Michael Brooker
2004 Professor Andrew Cockburn
2003 Dr Richard Holdaway
2003 Trevor Worthy
2001 Dr John Woinarski
1999 Professor Jiro Kikkawa
1998 Dr Richard Zann
1997 Dr Penny Olsen
1996 Drs Cliff & Dawn Frith
1995 Professor Allen Keast
1994 Dr Harry Recher
1993 Dr Hugh Ford
1992 Dr John Warham
1991 Dr Ian Rowley
D.L. Serventy
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