Scientific Accomplishments

Qualifications

– BA (1957) Walla Walla University, Washington; winning scholarships or fellowships to six major universities in USA.

– MSc (1959) Teaching Fellowship in Entomology, University of Illinois.

– PhD (1962) in Entomology, University of Illinois; thesis research and living stipend funded by rare State of Illinois scholarship..

– DIC (1972) Diploma of Imperial College, University of London, whilst an Academic Visitor during 1971-1972.

Professional Career Achievements

– Appointed (1962) to CSIRO Division of Entomology to lead a team at Armidale, NSW, to develop ecological control measures for subterranean pasture pests. The team of ecologists, a physiologist, and pathologist made breakthroughs in understanding the dynamics of insect/pasture relations and produced over 300 papers.

– Discovered in 1963 the first beetle in the world with a recognised viral disease; Sericesthis Iridescent Virus (SIV) later studied worldwide; some 300 papers now refer to it; resulted in CSIRO appointing an insect pathologist to the Armidale team.

– Discovered (1963) near Casino NSW, the first record of Plectris aliena from South America, now a scarab pest in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

– Discovered (1964) a pheromone and mating behaviour explaining the aggregated distribution of a pest species of pasture scarab beetle whose adults do not feed; Nature 205, 274-275 (1965). Important scarab pest in treeless pastures.

– Guest lecturer (1965-1969) for the University of New England providing a course in entomology for first-year science students; voted number one lecturer for motivation and high academic levels achieved.

– Developed a specialised plough technique for sampling large areas for soil insects: attracted worldwide attention, published in the first edition of “Ecological Methods” by Prof. Richard Southwood FRS, and Journal of Applied Ecology 9, 427-430 (1972).

– Major Discovery (1969) of peak insect abundance at intermediate stocking levels. Journal of Applied Ecology 22, 863-874 (1985).

– As an Academic Visitor to Imperial College, University of London (1971-1972); gained the distinguished Diploma of Imperial College (DIC) with Britain’s top ecologists under Prof. Southwood (FRS) modelling insect population dynamics.

– Represented Australia (1971) at an International Soil Biology Conference in Louvain, Belgium; also, at an International Conference on the Biological Control of Weeds held in Rome; visited prominent ecologists throughout Europe and USA.

– Invited (1972) by Cornell University to present a major ecology seminar about the Armidale research because the new theory of insect abundance in relation to stocking rates with sheep and cattle explained a dozen of their previously conflicting PhD theses.

– Fathered (1974) the ‘Australasian Conference on the Ecology of Grassland Invertebrates’ still bringing together pasture and grassland scientists– considered one of Australia’s most successful biological conferences, meeting every 4-5 years.

– Founded (1975) with M.J. Duggin (CSIRO physicist) Australia’s first studies on remote sensing of pasture quality using LANDSAT satellite data; received invitation to give the first Australian seminar on this to agriculturalists, foresters, and others in Melbourne

(1976). Importantly, the Armidale studies led directly to a new team studying remote sensing applications in the CSIRO Division of Animal Production, and the mapping of all Tableland pastures for nitrogen status using satellite data.

– Invited (1976) by the University of New England to address combined faculties of geographers, ecologists, botanists, and zoologists, about eucalyptus dieback on the Northern Tablelands of NSW.

– Honoured (1978) with a scarab named Antitrogus robertsi, a new species Roberts had found in Glen Innes, NSW, December 27, 1962.

– Selected (1978) to serve on the NSW Premier’s Expert Committee on Eucalyptus Dieback and a year later assisted the ABC’s Bill Downs to produce a ‘4-Corners’ program on eucalyptus dieback.

– Honoured (1984) with invitation to be the Keynote Speaker at the 25th Annual Conference of the Grassland Society of Victoria.