Pamela C. Rasmussen
Encyclopedia
Professor Pamela Cecile Rasmussen (b. October 16, 1959) is a prominent American ornithologist
and expert on Asian bird
s. She was formerly a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington D.C., and is based at the Michigan State University
. She is associated with other major centres of research in the US and UK.
Rasmussen's early research investigated South American seabird
s and fossil birds from North America. She later specialised in Asian birds describing several new species and clarifying the status of others, particularly white-eye
s and owl
s. More recently, she has been involved in large scale collaborations looking at patterns of global biodiversity, and has assessed the taxonomic
status of South Asia
n vultures.
She was the main author of Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide, a landmark publication due to its greater geographical and species coverage compared to its predecessors. As a result of her study of museum bird specimens when researching for the book, she was instrumental in unveiling the extent of the theft from museums and fraudulent documentation perpetrated by eminent British ornithologist Richard Meinertzhagen
.
, whose husband, Dr. Chester Murray Rasmussen, had left the family when Pamela and her sisters were young. Her interest in birds started when her mother bought her the junior edition of Oliver Austin's Birds of the World, and Pamela subsequently always chose to receive bird books as presents.
She took her M.S. in 1983 at Walla Walla University
, an Adventist-affiliated university in southeast Washington, and her Ph.D. at the University of Kansas
in 1990, where she studied blue-eyed shag
s, and was introduced to evolution
ary theory, which had not been taught at her alma mater.
Rasmussen is a visiting assistant professor of zoology
, and assistant museum curator of mammalogy
and ornithology, at Michigan State University
, having formerly been a research associate for the eminent American ornithologist S. Dillon Ripley
at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. She is a member of the American Ornithologists Union (AOU) Committee on Classification and Nomenclature, a scientific associate with the bird group of the British Natural History Museum
zoology section at Tring
, and an associate editor of The Ibis
, the scientific journal of the British Ornithologists' Union
. Pamela Rasmussen is married to Dr Michael D. Gottfried, who is Curator of Paleontology, Associate Professor of Geology, and Director of the Center for Integrative Studies in General Science at MSU.
n seabird
s, notably cormorants. She studied plumage variations in juvenile Blue-eyed
, King
and Red-legged Shags, and used plumage and behavioural patterns to establish relationships between King and Blue-eyed Shags. She also reviewed the fishing activity of Olivaceous Cormorants.
Pamela Rasmussen described four new Asian bird species from her study of museum specimens. The Nicobar Scops Owl
Otus alius, the Sangihe Scops Owl
Otus collari, and the Cinnabar Hawk Owl
Ninox ios, a Sulawesi
endemic
,
all in 1998, and the Taiwan Bush-warbler
Bradypterus alishanensis in 2000. She rediscovered the Forest Owlet
Athene blewitti, which had not been seen since 1884, in western India, previous searches by S. Dillon Ripley, Salim Ali
and others having failed because they relied on fake documentation from Richard Meinertzhagen
. In November 1997, Rasmussen and Ben King of the American Museum of Natural History
spent ten days unsuccessfully searching two east Indian locations before driving west to the site of another old specimen, where King spotted a small, chunky owl with short, heavily white-feathered legs and huge claws, which Rasmussen confirmed as the target species whilst the owl was videotaped and photographed.
With her colleagues, she clarified the taxonomy of Indonesia
n white-eye
s, establishing the specific status of the Sangihe White-eye
Zosterops nehrkorni and the Seram White-eye
Z. stalkeri and confirmed the identity of the Serendib Scops Owl
which had originally been discovered in Sri Lanka
by local ornithologist
Deepal Warakagoda
.
The Imperial Pheasant is a rare bird found in the forests of Vietnam and Laos. Rasmussen and her co-workers used morphology, hybridisation experiments, and DNA
analysis to show that this pheasant, previously thought critically endangered, is actually a naturally occurring hybrid between the Vietnamese Pheasant
Lophura hatinhensis and the subspecies annamensis of the Silver Pheasant
L. nycthemera.
A 2008 paper saw a return to white-eye taxonomy with the formal description of the Togian White-eye
Zosterops somadikartai, an endemic species of the Togian Islands
of Indonesia
, which, unlike most of its relatives, lacks the white ring around the eye which give this group of birds its name. Rasmussen noted that the Togian white-eye is distinctive not only in its appearance, but also in its lilting song, which sounds higher pitched and is less varied in frequency than the songs of its close relatives.
Pamela Rasmussen’s interest in Asian birds led to her involvement in more specifically conservation-directed projects. Two Gyps
vultures
, the Indian White-rumped Vulture, Gyps bengalensis, and the "Long-billed Vulture" suffered a 99 percent population decrease in South Asia due to poisoning by diclofenac
, a veterinary
drug that causes kidney failure in birds that have eaten the carcasses of treated cattle. Rasmussen showed that there are two distinct species of Long-billed Vulture: the Indian Vulture G. indicus and Slender-billed Vulture
G. tenuirostris. This is important to conservation, since a captive-breeding program has been established to assist the recovery of at-risk vulture species.
In 2005, Rasmussen was part of a large multi-institutional collaboration investigating biodiversity
hotspots, which have a prominent role in conservation. The study assessed locations quantitatively for three criteria of bird diversity – species richness, the level of threat, and the number of endemism species. The results demonstrated that hotspots did not show the same geographical distribution for each factor. Only 2.5% of hotspot areas are common to all three aspects of diversity, with over 80% of hotspots registering on only one criterion. Each criterion explained less than 24% of the variation in the other factors, suggesting that even within a single taxonomic class, different mechanisms are responsible for the origin and maintenance of various aspects of diversity. Consequently, the different types of hotspots also vary greatly in their utility as conservation tools.
Rasmussen's recent work has concentrated on further large-scale collaborations with the same group of institutions studying global patterns in biodiversity. A survey of species richness and geographical range size did not show the decrease in range size from temperate regions to the tropics that had been previously assumed; although that pattern was largely true in the northern hemisphere, it did not appear to apply in the southern hemisphere. Research evaluating the relationship between extinction and human impact showed that, after controlling for species richness, the best predictors of the global pattern of extinction risk are measures of human impact, with ecological
factors being of secondary importance. An examination of the distribution of rare and threatened vertebrate
species, showed differing patterns for bird, mammal and amphibian species, which has consequences for hotspot-based conservation strategies.
Other studies by Rasmussen and her international colleagues looked at the importance of energy availability, and a 2007 paper showed that global patterns of spatial turnover are driven principally by widespread species rather than restricted ones. This complements other work, and helps to establish a unified model of how terrestrial biodiversity varies both within and between the Earth's major land masses.
created during highway construction unearthed 11 specimens of fragmentary and unassociated avian fossils, which were identified by Rasmussen as including a small loon
, a small gull-like
species and five specimens of a gannet-like
seabird, probably Morus loxostylus, a common species in the Miocene
. All of these forms were already known from a site in Chesapeake Bay
, Maryland
. The finds suggests that the Delaware site was the near-shore area of a large bay at the time of deposition.
Rasmussen was also involved in a review of fossil
birds from Miocene and Pliocene
deposits in North Carolina
. Finds included an early Miocene loon
Colymboides minutus, various ducks, a crested tern closely resembling the modern Royal Tern
Sterna maxima, and a member of the crow genus, one of the few fossil passerine
birds from that period. The review found that fossil birds from this period generally closely resemble a modern species or genus, and those that do not can usually be placed in a modern family with a fair degree of confidence.
In 1992, Rasmussen took the position of assistant to S. Dillon Ripley
, the former secretary of the Smithsonian, who was planning to produce a definitive guide to the birds of South Asia. When he became ill shortly after beginning the project, Rasmussen took over the project, and with artist John C. Anderton
, produced Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide, a two-volume bird guide for the Indian subcontinent
which was the first field guide for the area to include sonogram
s. Volume 1 contains the field guide with over 3400 illustrations in 180 plates, and more than 1450 colour maps. Volume 2 (Attributes and Status) gives specimen measurements, data about identification, status, distribution and habits. Vocalizations are described from recordings, and there are over 1000 sonagrams.
1508 species that have occurred in India, Bangladesh
, Pakistan
, Nepal
, Bhutan
, Maldives
, the Chagos archipelago
and Afghanistan
are covered, including 85 hypothetical
and 67 'possible' species, which are given only short accounts. Notable aspects of Birds of South Asia are its distribution evidence-base – the book's authors based their distributional information almost completely on museum specimens – and its taxonomic approach, involving a large number of species-level splits. Its geographical range was also greater than that of older works, notably in the inclusion of Afghanistan.
Many allopatric forms previously regarded as conspecific are treated by Rasmussen and Anderton as full species. Most of these had previously been proposed elsewhere, but the book introduced a number of innovations of its own. Experts on Asian birds, Nigel Collar and John Pilgrim, in 2008 analysed Rasmussen and Anderton's proposed changes, indicating which had previously been proposed by other authors, and which were novel, and required further justification.
Although reviews in the birding and ornithological press have often been favourable, there have been criticisms. Peter Kennerley, author and Asian bird expert, considered that some of the illustrations are small and garish or technically inaccurate. He also believes that the over-reliance on sometimes very old museum specimens and dismissal of the wealth of observational data filed by amateur travelling birders is a mistake, and states that many of the taxonomic decisions appear to be random choices, unsupported by published research.
Apart from the Meinertzhagen fraud, which is discussed in the next section, and the death of S. Dillon Ripley, other problems in the production of Birds of South Asia included the loss of the main map database during a trip to Burma, and poorly prepared specimen skins. There were also difficulties reconciling sources, delays in producing illustrations and maps, and in obtaining reliable data for "difficult" areas like Assam
, Arunachal Pradesh
, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Andaman
and Nicobar Islands
also presented serious challenges with regard to the status and taxonomy of their avifaunas.
Rasmussen considered in a 2005 paper whether the revised taxonomy of the book, with its many species splits, had significant conservation implications, but felt that the effect on species richness in South Asia was limited, and would have only a moderate conservation impact, increasing the number of potentially threatened species in the region from 6% of the total avifauna to about 7%.
. However, British ornithologist Alan Knox had analysed Meinertzhagen's bird collection at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum
in Tring
, UK in the early 1990s, and uncovered significant fraud involving theft of specimens from museums and falsification of the accompanying documentation.
When researching for Birds of South Asia, Rasmussen examined tens of thousands of bird specimens, since the late S. Dillon Ripley had strongly favoured the use of museum specimens to determine which birds to include. With Robert Prys-Jones of the Natural History Museum
, she showed that the decades-old Meinertzhagen fraud was far more extensive than first thought. Many of the 20,000 bird specimens in his collection had been relabelled with regard to where they were collected, and sometimes also remounted. The false documentation delayed the rediscovery of the Forest Owlet, since previous searches had relied on Meinertzagen's faked records. Rasmussen's successful expedition ignored these and looked in the areas identified by the remaining genuine specimens.
Meinertzhargen had been banned from the Natural History Museum's Bird Room for 18 months for unauthorised removal of specimens, and suspicions that he was stealing specimens and library material were documented by staff for over 30 years, twice reaching the verge of prosecution.
Falsified records identified by Rasmussen and Prys-Jones included high-altitude occurrences of Coral-billed Scimitar-babbler
Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, out-of-range Kashmir Flycatcher
Ficedula subrubra and Himalayan winter records of Ferruginous Flycatcher
Muscicapa ferruginea and Large Blue Flycatcher Cyornis magnirostris (now Hill Blue-flycatcher
C. banyumas). However, some records such as those for Afghan Snowfinch
Montifringilla theresae, a species Meinertzhagen described, appear to be genuine.
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
and expert on Asian bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s. She was formerly a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in Washington D.C., and is based at the Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
. She is associated with other major centres of research in the US and UK.
Rasmussen's early research investigated South American seabird
Seabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
s and fossil birds from North America. She later specialised in Asian birds describing several new species and clarifying the status of others, particularly white-eye
White-eye
White-eye can refer to:*White-eye , a large family of birds.*White-eye , a species of fish.*White-eye mutation, a mutation in Drosophila melanogaster linked to the X chromosome, found by reciprocal cross breeding experiments in 1906.*A lioness member of the Marsh Pride of lions that have featured...
s and owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s. More recently, she has been involved in large scale collaborations looking at patterns of global biodiversity, and has assessed the taxonomic
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
status of South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
n vultures.
She was the main author of Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide, a landmark publication due to its greater geographical and species coverage compared to its predecessors. As a result of her study of museum bird specimens when researching for the book, she was instrumental in unveiling the extent of the theft from museums and fraudulent documentation perpetrated by eminent British ornithologist Richard Meinertzhagen
Richard Meinertzhagen
Colonel Richard Henry Meinertzhagen CBE DSO was a British soldier, intelligence officer and ornithologist.- Background and youth :Meinertzhagen was born into a socially connected, wealthy British family...
.
Biography
Pamela Rasmussen is the daughter of Helen Rasmussen, a Seventh-Day AdventistSeventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
, whose husband, Dr. Chester Murray Rasmussen, had left the family when Pamela and her sisters were young. Her interest in birds started when her mother bought her the junior edition of Oliver Austin's Birds of the World, and Pamela subsequently always chose to receive bird books as presents.
She took her M.S. in 1983 at Walla Walla University
Walla Walla University
Walla Walla University is a University offering liberal arts, professional, and technical programs located in College Place, Washington, just a few miles from Walla Walla. The current President is John McVay. It was founded in 1892 and is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.The...
, an Adventist-affiliated university in southeast Washington, and her Ph.D. at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
in 1990, where she studied blue-eyed shag
Blue-eyed shag
The blue-eyed shags are a group of closely related cormorant taxa. All have a blue, purple or red ring around the eye ; other shared features are white underparts and pink feet....
s, and was introduced to evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
ary theory, which had not been taught at her alma mater.
Rasmussen is a visiting assistant professor of zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
, and assistant museum curator of mammalogy
Mammalogy
In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems...
and ornithology, at Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
, having formerly been a research associate for the eminent American ornithologist S. Dillon Ripley
Sidney Dillon Ripley
Sidney Dillon Ripley was an American ornithologist and wildlife conservationist. He served as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1964-1984.-Biography:...
at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. She is a member of the American Ornithologists Union (AOU) Committee on Classification and Nomenclature, a scientific associate with the bird group of the British Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
zoology section at Tring
Tring
Tring is a small market town and also a civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a...
, and an associate editor of The Ibis
Ibis (journal)
Ibis, subtitled the International Journal of Avian Science, is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the British Ornithologists' Union. Topics covered include ecology, conservation, behaviour, palaeontology, and taxonomy of birds. The editor-in-chief is Paul F. Donald. The journal is published by...
, the scientific journal of the British Ornithologists' Union
British Ornithologists' Union
The British Ornithologists' Union aims to encourage the study of birds in Britain, Europe and elsewhere, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation....
. Pamela Rasmussen is married to Dr Michael D. Gottfried, who is Curator of Paleontology, Associate Professor of Geology, and Director of the Center for Integrative Studies in General Science at MSU.
South American seabirds
Rasmussen’s early work was largely focused on studies of the systematics, ecology and behaviour of PatagoniaPatagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
n seabird
Seabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
s, notably cormorants. She studied plumage variations in juvenile Blue-eyed
Imperial Shag
The Imperial Shag, Phalacrocorax atriceps, is a black and white cormorant native to many subantarctic islands, the Antarctic Peninsula and southern South America, primarily in rocky coastal regions, but locally also at large inland lakes. It is sometimes placed in the genus Leucocarbo instead...
, King
King Shag
The Rough-faced Shag , also known as New Zealand King Shag or King Shag, is a rare bird endemic to New Zealand.- Description :...
and Red-legged Shags, and used plumage and behavioural patterns to establish relationships between King and Blue-eyed Shags. She also reviewed the fishing activity of Olivaceous Cormorants.
Asian birds
Nicobar Scops Owl
The Nicobar Scops Owl is a species of owl in the Strigidae family.It is endemic to India.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It has an uncertain status but is thought to be rare or endangered. It was originally discovered by Pamela C. Rasmussen in 1998.-Source:*...
Otus alius, the Sangihe Scops Owl
Sangihe Scops Owl
The Sangihe Scops Owl is an owl endemic to the island of Sangihe.-References:**...
Otus collari, and the Cinnabar Hawk Owl
Cinnabar Hawk Owl
The Cinnabar Boobook , also known as the Cinnabar Hawk Owl, a hawk owl endemic to the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It was described as a new species to science by American ornithologist Pamela C. Rasmussen in 1999 based on a single specimen collected by Frank Rozendaal from Bogani Nani Wartabone...
Ninox ios, a Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
endemic
Endemism in birds
An endemic bird area is a region of the world that contains two or more restricted-range species, while a "secondary area" contains one or more restricted-range species. Both terms were devised by Birdlife International....
,
all in 1998, and the Taiwan Bush-warbler
Taiwan Bush-warbler
The Taiwan Bush-warbler is a species of Old World warbler in the Locustellidae family. It is found only in Taiwan.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland.-References:...
Bradypterus alishanensis in 2000. She rediscovered the Forest Owlet
Forest Owlet
The Forest Owlet is an owl that is endemic to the forests of central India. This species belongs to the typical owls family, Strigidae. After it was described in 1873 and last seen in the wild in 1884, it was considered extinct until it was rediscovered 113 years later in 1997 by Pamela Rasmussen...
Athene blewitti, which had not been seen since 1884, in western India, previous searches by S. Dillon Ripley, Salim Ali
Salim Ali (ornithologist)
Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Known as the "birdman of India", Salim Ali was among the first Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys across India and his bird books helped develop ornithology...
and others having failed because they relied on fake documentation from Richard Meinertzhagen
Richard Meinertzhagen
Colonel Richard Henry Meinertzhagen CBE DSO was a British soldier, intelligence officer and ornithologist.- Background and youth :Meinertzhagen was born into a socially connected, wealthy British family...
. In November 1997, Rasmussen and Ben King of the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
spent ten days unsuccessfully searching two east Indian locations before driving west to the site of another old specimen, where King spotted a small, chunky owl with short, heavily white-feathered legs and huge claws, which Rasmussen confirmed as the target species whilst the owl was videotaped and photographed.
With her colleagues, she clarified the taxonomy of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n white-eye
White-eye
White-eye can refer to:*White-eye , a large family of birds.*White-eye , a species of fish.*White-eye mutation, a mutation in Drosophila melanogaster linked to the X chromosome, found by reciprocal cross breeding experiments in 1906.*A lioness member of the Marsh Pride of lions that have featured...
s, establishing the specific status of the Sangihe White-eye
Sangihe White-eye
The Sangihe White-eye is a species of bird in the white-eye family. It is endemic to Sangihe, Indonesia.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes. It is threatened by habitat loss....
Zosterops nehrkorni and the Seram White-eye
Seram White-eye
The Seram White-eye, Zosterops stalkeri, is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family. It is an endemic resident breeder in open woodland in Seram, Indonesia....
Z. stalkeri and confirmed the identity of the Serendib Scops Owl
Serendib Scops Owl
The Serendib Scops Owl is the most recently discovered bird of Sri Lanka. It was originally located by its unfamiliar poo-ooo call in the Kitulgala rainforest by prominent Sri Lankan ornithologist Deepal Warakagoda. Six years later, it was finally seen by him on 23 January 2001 in Sinharaja, and...
which had originally been discovered in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
by local ornithologist
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
Deepal Warakagoda
Deepal Warakagoda
Deepal Warakagoda is a prominent Sri Lankan ornithologist. His early working career was in electronics, but for many years he has studied birds and also works as a professional guide for birding tours of the island....
.
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
analysis to show that this pheasant, previously thought critically endangered, is actually a naturally occurring hybrid between the Vietnamese Pheasant
Vietnamese Pheasant
The Vietnamese Pheasant, or Vietnam Fireback, is a species of gallopheasant. Discovered in 1964, it is endemic to central Vietnam. Its range concentrates around Ke Go Nature Reserve in Ha Tinh Province.-References:*...
Lophura hatinhensis and the subspecies annamensis of the Silver Pheasant
Silver Pheasant
The Silver Pheasant is a species of pheasant found in forests, mainly in mountains, of mainland Southeast Asia, and eastern and southern China, with introduced populations in Hawaii and various locations in the US mainland. The male is black and white, while the female is mainly brown...
L. nycthemera.
A 2008 paper saw a return to white-eye taxonomy with the formal description of the Togian White-eye
Togian White-eye
The Togian White-eye is a species of bird in the Zosteropidae family.It is found in the Togian Islands of Indonesia, where it is endemic. The species was first spotted by University of Indonesia researcher Mochamad Indrawan and his colleague Sunarto in 1997, and formally described in 2008...
Zosterops somadikartai, an endemic species of the Togian Islands
Togian Islands
The Togian Islands are an archipelago of 56 islands and islets, in the Gulf of Tomini, off the coast of Central Sulawesi, in Indonesia. The three largest islands are Batudaka, Togian, and Talatakoh...
of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, which, unlike most of its relatives, lacks the white ring around the eye which give this group of birds its name. Rasmussen noted that the Togian white-eye is distinctive not only in its appearance, but also in its lilting song, which sounds higher pitched and is less varied in frequency than the songs of its close relatives.
Pamela Rasmussen’s interest in Asian birds led to her involvement in more specifically conservation-directed projects. Two Gyps
Gyps
The Gyps vultures are a genus of Old World vultures in the bird family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks....
vultures
Old World vulture
Old World vultures belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, buzzards, kites, and hawks.Old World vultures are not closely related to the superficially similar New World vultures and condors, and do not share that group's good sense of smell. The similarities between the two...
, the Indian White-rumped Vulture, Gyps bengalensis, and the "Long-billed Vulture" suffered a 99 percent population decrease in South Asia due to poisoning by diclofenac
Diclofenac
Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug taken to reduce inflammation and as an analgesic reducing pain in certain conditions....
, a veterinary
Veterinary medicine
Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...
drug that causes kidney failure in birds that have eaten the carcasses of treated cattle. Rasmussen showed that there are two distinct species of Long-billed Vulture: the Indian Vulture G. indicus and Slender-billed Vulture
Slender-billed Vulture
The Slender-billed Vulture is a recently recognized species of Old World vulture. For some time, it was categorized with its relative, the Indian Vulture, under the name of "Long-billed Vulture". However, these two species have non-overlapping distribution ranges and can be immediately told apart...
G. tenuirostris. This is important to conservation, since a captive-breeding program has been established to assist the recovery of at-risk vulture species.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
hotspots, which have a prominent role in conservation. The study assessed locations quantitatively for three criteria of bird diversity – species richness, the level of threat, and the number of endemism species. The results demonstrated that hotspots did not show the same geographical distribution for each factor. Only 2.5% of hotspot areas are common to all three aspects of diversity, with over 80% of hotspots registering on only one criterion. Each criterion explained less than 24% of the variation in the other factors, suggesting that even within a single taxonomic class, different mechanisms are responsible for the origin and maintenance of various aspects of diversity. Consequently, the different types of hotspots also vary greatly in their utility as conservation tools.
Rasmussen's recent work has concentrated on further large-scale collaborations with the same group of institutions studying global patterns in biodiversity. A survey of species richness and geographical range size did not show the decrease in range size from temperate regions to the tropics that had been previously assumed; although that pattern was largely true in the northern hemisphere, it did not appear to apply in the southern hemisphere. Research evaluating the relationship between extinction and human impact showed that, after controlling for species richness, the best predictors of the global pattern of extinction risk are measures of human impact, with ecological
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
factors being of secondary importance. An examination of the distribution of rare and threatened vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
species, showed differing patterns for bird, mammal and amphibian species, which has consequences for hotspot-based conservation strategies.
Other studies by Rasmussen and her international colleagues looked at the importance of energy availability, and a 2007 paper showed that global patterns of spatial turnover are driven principally by widespread species rather than restricted ones. This complements other work, and helps to establish a unified model of how terrestrial biodiversity varies both within and between the Earth's major land masses.
Zooarchaeology
A fossil site at a borrow pit in near Cheswold, DelawareCheswold, Delaware
Cheswold is a town in Kent County in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,380 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Cheswold is located at ....
created during highway construction unearthed 11 specimens of fragmentary and unassociated avian fossils, which were identified by Rasmussen as including a small loon
Loon
The loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia...
, a small gull-like
Gull
Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...
species and five specimens of a gannet-like
Sulidae
The bird family Sulidae comprises the gannets and boobies. Collectively called sulidas, they are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish and similar prey. The ten species in this family are often considered congeneric in older sources, placing all in the genus Sula...
seabird, probably Morus loxostylus, a common species in the Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
. All of these forms were already known from a site in Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. The finds suggests that the Delaware site was the near-shore area of a large bay at the time of deposition.
Rasmussen was also involved in a review of fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
birds from Miocene and Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
deposits in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. Finds included an early Miocene loon
Loon
The loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia...
Colymboides minutus, various ducks, a crested tern closely resembling the modern Royal Tern
Royal Tern
The Royal Tern is a seabird in the tern family Sternidae. This bird has two distinctive subspecies. T. m. maximus breeds on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the southern USA and Mexico into the Caribbean. The slightly smaller T. m. albididorsalis breeds in coastal west Africa...
Sterna maxima, and a member of the crow genus, one of the few fossil passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
birds from that period. The review found that fossil birds from this period generally closely resemble a modern species or genus, and those that do not can usually be placed in a modern family with a fair degree of confidence.
Birds of South Asia
Sidney Dillon Ripley
Sidney Dillon Ripley was an American ornithologist and wildlife conservationist. He served as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1964-1984.-Biography:...
, the former secretary of the Smithsonian, who was planning to produce a definitive guide to the birds of South Asia. When he became ill shortly after beginning the project, Rasmussen took over the project, and with artist John C. Anderton
John C. Anderton
John C. Anderton is an American ornithologist and bird illustrator.His work includes painting 69 of the 180 plates in Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide, written with professor Pamela C. Rasmussen.The book's covers are also illustrated by Anderton...
, produced Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide, a two-volume bird guide for the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
which was the first field guide for the area to include sonogram
Sonogram
A sonogram may refer to the following:* A diagnostic medical image created using ultrasound echo equipment, see medical ultrasonography...
s. Volume 1 contains the field guide with over 3400 illustrations in 180 plates, and more than 1450 colour maps. Volume 2 (Attributes and Status) gives specimen measurements, data about identification, status, distribution and habits. Vocalizations are described from recordings, and there are over 1000 sonagrams.
1508 species that have occurred in India, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
, the Chagos archipelago
Chagos Archipelago
The Chagos Archipelago , is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean; situated some due south of the Maldives archipelago. This chain of islands are the southernmost archipelago of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge a long submarine mountain range...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
are covered, including 85 hypothetical
Hypothetical list of biota
A hypothetical list of biota, or "hypothetical list" for short, is a list of taxa which are not recorded from a given geographical area, but which may be found there...
and 67 'possible' species, which are given only short accounts. Notable aspects of Birds of South Asia are its distribution evidence-base – the book's authors based their distributional information almost completely on museum specimens – and its taxonomic approach, involving a large number of species-level splits. Its geographical range was also greater than that of older works, notably in the inclusion of Afghanistan.
Many allopatric forms previously regarded as conspecific are treated by Rasmussen and Anderton as full species. Most of these had previously been proposed elsewhere, but the book introduced a number of innovations of its own. Experts on Asian birds, Nigel Collar and John Pilgrim, in 2008 analysed Rasmussen and Anderton's proposed changes, indicating which had previously been proposed by other authors, and which were novel, and required further justification.
Although reviews in the birding and ornithological press have often been favourable, there have been criticisms. Peter Kennerley, author and Asian bird expert, considered that some of the illustrations are small and garish or technically inaccurate. He also believes that the over-reliance on sometimes very old museum specimens and dismissal of the wealth of observational data filed by amateur travelling birders is a mistake, and states that many of the taxonomic decisions appear to be random choices, unsupported by published research.
Apart from the Meinertzhagen fraud, which is discussed in the next section, and the death of S. Dillon Ripley, other problems in the production of Birds of South Asia included the loss of the main map database during a trip to Burma, and poorly prepared specimen skins. There were also difficulties reconciling sources, delays in producing illustrations and maps, and in obtaining reliable data for "difficult" areas like Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...
, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Andaman
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
and Nicobar Islands
Nicobar Islands
The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean...
also presented serious challenges with regard to the status and taxonomy of their avifaunas.
Rasmussen considered in a 2005 paper whether the revised taxonomy of the book, with its many species splits, had significant conservation implications, but felt that the effect on species richness in South Asia was limited, and would have only a moderate conservation impact, increasing the number of potentially threatened species in the region from 6% of the total avifauna to about 7%.
The Meinertzhagen fraud
Rasmussen revealed the true extent of the major fraud perpetrated by the eminent British soldier, ornithologist and expert on bird lice, Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen. Meinertzhagen, who died in 1967, was the author of numerous taxonomic and other works on birds, and possessed a vast collection of bird and bird lice specimens; he was considered to be one of Britain's greatest ornithologistsOrnithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
. However, British ornithologist Alan Knox had analysed Meinertzhagen's bird collection at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum
Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum
The Natural History Museum at Tring was the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild, today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum. It houses one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptiles and insects in the United Kingdom...
in Tring
Tring
Tring is a small market town and also a civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a...
, UK in the early 1990s, and uncovered significant fraud involving theft of specimens from museums and falsification of the accompanying documentation.
When researching for Birds of South Asia, Rasmussen examined tens of thousands of bird specimens, since the late S. Dillon Ripley had strongly favoured the use of museum specimens to determine which birds to include. With Robert Prys-Jones of the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
, she showed that the decades-old Meinertzhagen fraud was far more extensive than first thought. Many of the 20,000 bird specimens in his collection had been relabelled with regard to where they were collected, and sometimes also remounted. The false documentation delayed the rediscovery of the Forest Owlet, since previous searches had relied on Meinertzagen's faked records. Rasmussen's successful expedition ignored these and looked in the areas identified by the remaining genuine specimens.
Meinertzhargen had been banned from the Natural History Museum's Bird Room for 18 months for unauthorised removal of specimens, and suspicions that he was stealing specimens and library material were documented by staff for over 30 years, twice reaching the verge of prosecution.
Falsified records identified by Rasmussen and Prys-Jones included high-altitude occurrences of Coral-billed Scimitar-babbler
Coral-billed Scimitar-babbler
The Coral-billed Scimitar-babbler is a species of bird in the Timaliidae family.It is found in Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 26 July...
Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, out-of-range Kashmir Flycatcher
Kashmir Flycatcher
The Kashmir Flycatcher, Ficedula subrubra, is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae. At one time it was considered to be a subspecies of the Red-breasted Flycatcher, Ficedula parva....
Ficedula subrubra and Himalayan winter records of Ferruginous Flycatcher
Ferruginous Flycatcher
The Ferruginous Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Muscicapidae family.It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, India, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane...
Muscicapa ferruginea and Large Blue Flycatcher Cyornis magnirostris (now Hill Blue-flycatcher
Hill Blue-flycatcher
The Hill Blue-flycatcher is a species of bird in the Muscicapidae family.It is found in Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam.-References:...
C. banyumas). However, some records such as those for Afghan Snowfinch
Afghan Snowfinch
The Afghan Snowfinch , also known as Theresa's Snowfinch, is a bird of the sparrow family and is an Afghan endemic found only in the Hindu Kush. The species was named by Richard Meinertzhagen after his cousin and companion, Theresa Clay, who was an expert on bird lice.It is 13.5–15 cm long...
Montifringilla theresae, a species Meinertzhagen described, appear to be genuine.