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Andre desrochers universite
André Desrochers is a Quebec scientist with expertise in ornithology and ecology.
Contents
- Andre desrochers universite
- Andre desrochers menaces et pe rils
- Early years
- Academic background
- Professional activities
- Species studied
- Other activities
- Militancy
- References
As of 2015, he has worked for almost thirty years in these research areas. Since the mid-1990s, he also worked to promote environmental conservation through various organizations.
Andre desrochers menaces et pe rils
Early years
On the one passion to another
First it was astronomy which fascinated the young André:
"J’ai toujours été fasciné par le ciel. Cette fascination remonte aux soirées passées dehors à chercher les constellations, le tome 9 de l’Encyclopédie de la jeunesse de la maison d’édition Grolier en main. J’avais 10 ans".
("I've always been fascinated by the sky. This fascination goes back to evenings spent outside to look for constellations, volume 9 of the Children's Encyclopædia of the Grolier Publishing House in hand. I was 10.")
Then one day, everything changed for teenager André, who suddenly discovered a new passion:
"C’est par une chaude soirée de mes 16 ans, lors d’une pluie de météorites, les Perséides, que mon attention de scientifique en herbe a soudainement dévié vers le monde des oiseaux. Ce soir-là, des oiseaux migrateurs nocturnes, surtout des parulines et des grives, dont les brefs sifflements émanaient de nulle part, semblaient s’abattre tout autour de moi et de mon télescope rudimentaire, un Newton de 3 pouces. Quelques années plus tard, le Saint-Laurent, ce grand attracteur d’oiseaux, a scellé pour de bon ma passion pour ces derniers."
("It was by a warm evening of my 16 years, during a meteor shower, the Perseids, my budding scientific attention suddenly diverted to the world of birds. That night, nocturnal migratory birds, especially warblers and thrushes, whose whistles came from nowhere, seemed to shoot down all around me and my rudimentary telescope, a 3-inch Newton. Some years later, the Saint Lawrence river, this great attractor of birds, sealed definitively my passion for them.")
Academic background
After studies in biology at Laval University, Quebec and in zoology at the University of Alberta in Canada, he obtained a doctorate in zoology at the University of Cambridge in the UK. After three post-doctoral internships - in zoology at the University of Cambridge for the first (1991), the other two at Laval University including one in the biology department (1992-1993) and the other in the plant sciences department (1993-1994) - he was a visiting scholar at the department of ecology and systematic of the University of Helsinki, Finland (2001-2002) and at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the United States (2008-2009). He is a fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Professional activities
His work focuses primarily on impacts of forestry practices on the behavior, ecology and rapid evolution of birds and mammals. Statistical modeling is a recurring theme in his work.
His areas of expertise are:
Specifically, his works are grouped into three sub-disciplines of ecology:
He has published over 120 scientific articles and reports which have been cited over 4000 times in the scientific literature. Regarding books, he participated in the drafting of fifteen books, alone or in collaboration with other authors. · . Besides this research, he also serves on the technical committee of the Boreal Avian Modelling Project (BAM), an international research project. He currently teaches at Laval University Québec, and is Director of Graduate Studies in forestry. Since 2000, he has devoted most of his work at the Forêt Montmorency, Université Laval research and teaching forest, the largest one of its kind in the World.
In 2004, he organized the largest annual scientific meeting of bird scientists in North America, the American Ornithologists' Union Meeting. This congress was under the auspices of Laval University and united for the occasion the Society of Canadian Ornithologists to its American counterpart.
He is also member of the following research groups:
From 2003-2006, he led the " Centre de recherche en biologie forestière " (Research Center in Forest Biology) (CRBF). Founded in 1985, the CRBF merged in 2006 with the "Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Forestière interuniversitaire" (Interuniversity Research Group for Forest Ecology) (GREFi) to form the "Centre d'études de la forêt" (Centre for Forest Research) which is composed of some 60 researchers in 11 universities of Quebec.
He has been member of the scientific council of Bird Studies Canada (1997-1999), the Board of the Society of Canadian Ornithologists (1997-2001) and the North American Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology (2001-2004).
Species studied
The bird species he studied include the Eurasian blackbird, snow goose, black-capped chickadee, boreal chickadee, alpine accentor, white-throated sparrow, Bicknell's thrush , ovenbird, pileated woodpecker. In mammals, his research has focused particularly on the American marten and the Siberian flying squirrel.
Other activities
He is currently vice-president of the "Regroupement QuébecOiseaux", an NGO formerly known as "Quebec Association of ornithologists groups", whose aim is to "[...] promote the study of birds and ensure their protection and their habitats" while allowing people to enjoy the field of ornithology in Quebec.
In the 1990s, he was a member of a group of about ten volunteers who gave birth to the "Fondation pour la protection du patrimoine naturel" for the Quebec City region. One of the main achievements was the creation of the Parc des Hauts-Fonds in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures.
Since 2015, he is responsible for Census Christmas Bird of Quebec City. This activity is part of the Christmas Bird Count of the Audubon Society, an old institution over 100 years, sponsored in Canada by Bird Studies Canada. He is a member of the "Club des ornithologues de Québec" since 1978.
Militancy
Environmental activist, André Desrochers has served for the Union Québécoise pour la Conservation de la nature (now Nature Québec). He was vice-president of the latter organization from 1993-1997, and interim president in 1993. He has also presided Stratégies Saint-Laurent in 1993-1994. He has served on a Task Force for Canada’s former Environment Minister Sheila Copps, to help develop what is now Canada’s Species At Risk Act (SARA). In the blogosphere, Desrochers is known for his non-consensual writings. Formerly alarmed by global warming, he has lately become a vocal “lukewarmer”, critical of those who attempt to thwart debate on the causes of climate change and the associated policy consequences. ·
A self-described humanist, Desrochers actively promotes the use of the scientific method and contests the alarmism and misanthropy in current environmentalist discourse. ·