We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Dr. Keith Hobson. The following paragraphs are a summary of Dr. Hobson’s achievements prior to retirement, written by Samantha Song with Environment and Climate Change Canada. In addition to his below accomplishments, Keith also served as the Editor of Waterbirds from 2006-08 (Volumes 29, 30, 31). His obituary can be found here.
——
Dr. Keith Hobson was a Senior Research Scientist (RES-05) with the Science & Technology Branch of Environment & Climate Change Canada and had affiliations with six universities in Canada and abroad. Keith had been a Research Scientist since 1992 with his research spanning ecosystems from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and every province and territory in Canada. His research has been crucial in leading or contributing to ECCC research teams addressing priority issues such as declines of bird species including aerial insectivores, the extent of incidental take of bird nests by industrial sectors, causes of eutrophication in Lake Winnipeg, and the conservation of many Species at Risk including Monarch Butterflies and Polar Bears. Keith’s early research under the Canadian Government’s Green Plan provided the foundations for our understanding of boreal forest bird dynamics and how forest harvesting practices could be manipulated to mitigate their impacts on boreal birds. Keith worked with and mentored scientists in the Caribbean as well as South and Central America to help conserve populations of Canadian migratory birds across their annual cycle.
Keith is perhaps best known for his pioneering research on the application of stable isotopes in ecological research, which he first used to trace the flow of nutrients and contaminants through food webs and then as a tool to track migration. His innovative research and methods have also been instrumental in helping understand how factors affecting individuals in one portion of the avian annual cycle can carry-over to influence fitness during other portions of the annual cycle potentially influencing population trends. Much of his work has been so foundational that the methods have been adopted in other fields such as human forensics, ecotoxicology and in detection of food adulteration. Keith authored or co-authored more than 650 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 2 books and 16 book chapters, a track record achieved by very few. His publications are broadly cited and he has an H-index of 122 (a number used to represent the impact of a scientist’s research), putting him as the most productive scientist in Environment and Climate Change Canada (#1 ranking) and the top 3% of published scientists globally in Environmental Science and Technology. His scientific contributions have been recognized through a multitude of other honors and awards; he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the International Ornithological Union and the American Ornithological Society to name a few.