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Canada has lost one of its pre-eminent ecologists with the death of Professor Robert L. Jefferies of the University of Toronto. Professor Jefferies died July 8, 2009, from a massive cerebral haemorrhage suffered the day before. He was 73. His professional career spanned approximately 50 years, including 33 years at the University of Toronto as a Professor and Emeritus Professor. During this time, he made significant contributions to our understanding of plant biology, including demography, nutrition, productivity, plant-soil dynamics, and herbivory. His studies of goose-plant interactions in the Canadian Arctic were pre-eminent among his research interests and demonstrated how changes in management and land use in the wintering grounds of these birds had devastating impacts on high-latitude coastlines. His work helped to make La Pérouse Bay, near Churchill, Manitoba, one of the best-understood grazing ecosystems worldwide. For his contributions to high-latitude studies, he was selected as one of Canada's representatives on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), serving as a member of the polar region working group, where he earned the praise of fellow panel members for his key role in the preparation of a cohesive report. This IPCC panel received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their role in bringing the climate change issue to the world's attention.
Bob Jefferies was born in 1936 in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England and raised in nearby Somerset. From an early age, he developed a passion for biology and natural history, due in no small measure to the influence of his mother, an avid natural historian, and the companionship of his sister, Marion. From his father, an accountant, he developed an interest in the wider world, in particular international affairs, economics, and the weather. He had many opportunities as a youth to explore the natural world around him, carrying at times a butterfly net, a shotgun, and a copy of Flora of the British Isles. His parents instilled in Bob a sense of wonder about the world, a love of the outdoors, a need to always be mindful of others, and a sense of purpose in life. These characteristics melded together to form a scientist of unusual breadth and flexibility, and to those who knew him, a man of unusual grace and humility.
Bob attended Bristol University for...