Bill Ricker: An Appreciation (Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes)

157 Pages·2006·3.11 MB·English

by  David L.G. Noakes

Developments in environmental biology of fishes 24
Series Editor
DAVID L.G. NOAKES
Bill Ricker: An Appreciation
Editor:
David L.G. Noakes
Reprintedfrom Environmental Biology of Fishes, Volume 75(1)2006
123
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CONTENTS
Bill Ricker: An Appreciation
Guest Editor: David L.G. Noakes
Bill Ricker: a tribute by D.L.G. Noakes 1
One man’s journey through the years when ecology came of age by W.E. Ricker 7
Flora was his interest and prime course of study: a botanical career for W.E. Ricker
disappears by K.E. Ricker 39
Bill Ricker’s records as an ornithologist by K. Ricker 73
Curiosity, recruitment, and chaos: A tribute to Bill Ricker’s inquiring mind by J.T. Schnute 95
Bill Ricker’s entomological contributions by G.G.E. Scudder 111
Bill Ricker: A man of gifted intellect, insatiable curiosity and generous spirit by
R.J. Beamish & D.J. Noakes 119
Bibliography for W.E. Ricker, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., O.C., F.R.S.C., LLD, D.Sc. March 1998
by K.E. Ricker 131
Frontispiece: Bill Ricker, on the day of his graduation, June 1926, from secondary school in
North Bay, Ontario, Canada.
EnvironmentalBiologyofFishes (2006)75:1–5 (cid:1)Springer2006
DOI10.1007/s10641-005-2440-0
Bill Ricker: a tribute
David L.G. Noakes
Fisheries and Wildlife Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331-2802, USA (e-mail:
[email protected])
Received5June2005 Accepted26June2005
Key words: Ricker’s Curve, entomology, fishery science, ornithology, botany
Synopsis
WilliamEdwin(Bill)Ricker(1908–2001)isbestknownasoneofthefoundersoffisheryscience.Hewasalso
internationally recognized as an entomologist and a scientific editor. In an accompanying article written
shortly before his death, Bill gives his own recollections of his career and intellectual development. A
bibliography of Bill’s scientific publications, translations and manuscripts has been compiled by his son
Karl,andaccompaniesthisarticle.KarlhasalsowrittenadetailedaccountofBill’searlyeducationandhis
accomplishmentsinbotanyandornithology.GeoffScuddersummarizesBill’scontributionstoentomology,
JonSchnuteprovidesbothpersonalandprofessionalinsightsintoBill’smathematicalaccomplishments,and
Dick Beamish and Don Noakespresent personal recollections ofBill as a scientist and colleague.
Introduction the story that he was always fascinated by trains.
One of his earliest memories was going down the
Bill Ricker lived a long, rich and productive life street from his house to watch each passing train.
(Figure 1a, b). He contributed to many branches His mother indicated a line on the sidewalk and
of science and was recognized internationally as a instructedBillnottogopassthatline.Isuggestedto
kind, generous and creative colleague (Beamish Bill that this might have been the origin of his
et al. 2003). His name will forever be associated graphicalperspectiveontheworld(Figure 5).
with the Ricker Curve (Figure 2a, b), not only in Bill’sscientificproductivityisextraordinary,for
fishery science but also in many other areas of hisoriginalityandcreativity,hisdepth,hisbreadth
ecology (Ricklefs & Miller 2000). A recent search and the sheer length of his career (Garfield 1982).
on the Internet for his name produced more than His first paper (Harkness & Ricker 1929) was on
8000hits,forexample.ThegovernmentofCanada fish biology. He was still publishing 70 years later
recognized him when they named the research (Ricker & Schnute 1999), this time on astronomy!
vessel W. E. Ricker in his honour (Figure 3a, b). His article in this special issue of the journal
The list of honours and recognitions awarded to extendshis publication record over 75 years.
Bill during his lifetime began with his earliest Among his many other contributions, Bill
education and continued to the end of his life wrote articles on subjects as diverse as Sherlock
(Figure 4a, b). Bill did not keep a list of those Holmes (Figure 6) (Ricker 1995) and extrater-
awards, but Beamish & Noakes (2006) have done restrial fireballs (Schnute & Ricker 1999). His
so in their article in this issue. devotion to his family was legendary. He
Bill was born in Waterdown, Ontario and lived learned to play the double bass well enough to
thefirstyearsofhislifeinGuelph,Ontariowherehis join his sons in the Nanaimo Symphony
fatherwasasecondaryschoolteacher.Hetoldme (Beamish & Noakes 2006). He taught himself
2
Figure2. (a) Ricker’s Curve, the entrance to the Pacific Bio-
logical Station, Hammond Bay Road, Nanaimo, British
Columbia,Canada.(b)Bill’ssignatureinmycopyofthe‘green
book’,apersonalizedversionoftheRickerCurve.
and the other working on entomology. His
contributions to entomology went far beyond
taxonomy and systematics. His early publica-
tions on the evolution of flight, and the
occurrence of flightless species of stoneflies
(Ricker & Ross 1975) are well worth reading in
the context of ongoing discussions on this topic
(Marden & Kramer 1995, Will 1995).
Figure1. (a)TheunassumingofficedoorofBillRicker’soffice
at Pacific Biological Laboratory of the Fisheries Research I invited Bill to submit a manuscript, based on
BoardofCanada,Nanaimo,BritishColumbia.(b)BillRicker his seminar at the University of Guelph when he
inhisofficeatthePacificBiologicalLaboratoryoftheFisheries received his honourary D. Sc. degree. As time
ResearchBoardofCanada,Nanaimo,BritishColumbiainJuly
passed, it became increasingly obvious that much
1999.
morewasneededtoputBill’sarticleinperspective.
Fortunately Geoff Scudder, Jon Schnute, Dick
Russian so successfully that he subsequently Beamish and Don Noakes responded to my re-
published a Russian–English dictionary that is quest to provide invited manuscripts on their own
still widely used (Ricker 1973, Figure 7). His contacts with Bill and his work. Bill’s son Karl
facility with languages was shown in many as- responded with enthusiasm to my invitation, and
pects of his life, including entomology. His invested a great deal of effort to document Bill’s
work on stoneflies, Family Plecoptera, was scientific activities. Karl provided extensive
truly pioneering (Scudder 2006). It is said that manuscripts on Bill’s academic background, his
his work in entomology was so impressive that ornithological activities, and most importantly a
everyone assumed there must be two people complete bibliography of Bill’s writings.
with the same name, one working on popula- A brief explanation is required for some details
tion biology and fishery science (Ricker 1958), of Bill’s article, and those by his son Karl, in this
3
Figure4. (a) Bill Ricker at the Axelrod Institute of Ichthyol-
ogy, University of Guelph in October 1996. Bill received his
honouraryD.Sc.fromtheUniversityofGuelphinrecognition
for his lifetime contributions to science. The Ricker Recruit-
mentLaboratoryintheInstituteofIchthyologywasnamedin
Bill’shonourandinrecognitionofhispioneeringcontributions
to fishery science. (b) Bill Ricker receiving the University of
Guelph Chapter of Sigma Xi Lifetime Achievement Award
from Usher Posluszny, 10 October 1996. The text from his
lecture,alifeamongthefishes,ispublishedinthecompanion
articleinthisissue.
personallistispublishedexactlyashesubmittedit
Figure3. (a) The Canadian Coast Guard Research Vessel,
because he refers to it extensively here and
W. E. Ricker, docked at the Pacific Biological Station,
elsewhere. Karl has produced a more extensive
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. (b) Bill Ricker reaches
iconicstatusonateenager’ssweatshirt. list of Bill’s publications, and has attempted to
cross-reference his list to Bill’s. For that reason
Karl’s list is also published here in its entirety.
special issue. As much as possible I have kept all Karl’s article on Bill’s education and predisposi-
the details of Bill’s article, including the captions tion to botany is published here with minimal
for his original photographs, for obvious historic editorialchangesfromhisoriginaltext.Thisarticle
reasons. This includes an idiosyncratic use of nu- closely parallels a number of details in Bill’s own
mericreferencestoBill’sversionofhislifetime list article and significantly adds to it. Karl’s manu-
of publications, in addition to the conventional scripts were completed after Bill’s death so while
formatforreferencescitedinthetext.Billexplains Karl and the other authors in this issue had the
the details of his version of his lifetime list of benefitofreadingBill’smanuscripthedidnothave
publications, including his numeric system. His the opportunity to see any of the others.
4
Figure5. Detail of sidewalk near railway tracks where Bill
Figure7. Bill’s signature in my copy of his Russian–English
Ricker’smothermighthaveindicatedthelinebeyondwhichhe
dictionary.
shouldnot go to viewpassing trains.Anyresemblance tothe
laterRickerCurveiscoincidental.
Acknowledgements
IthankthemembersofBill’sfamily,especiallysons
Karl and Angus, for their comments, insight and
suggestions. Dick Beamish, Bill Beamish and Don
Noakesalsoprovidedcommentsonanearlierdraft
of this manuscript. Megan Noakes allowed me to
photograph her Ricker sweatshirt. David Geber
confirmedtheidentificationofBill’sdoublebass.
References
Beamish,R.J.&D.J.Noakes.2006.BillRicker:Amanofgifted
intellect, insatiable curiosity and generous spirit. Envi-
ronmentalBiologyofFishes.75:119–129.
Beamish,R.J.,D.J.Noakes,D.L.G.Noakes&F.W.H.Beamish.
2003.WilliamE.Ricker,OC,FRSC,LLD,DSc.Canadian
JournalofFisheries&AquaticSciences60:iii–v.
Garfield, E. 1982. This week’s citation classic: W. E. Ricker.
Stockandrecruitment.J.Fish.Res.BoardCanada11:559–
623,1954.CurrentContents21:20.
Harkness,W.J.K.&W.E.Ricker.1929.Apreliminarystudyof
sometroutwatersofOntario.TransactionsoftheAmerican
FisheriesSociety59:256–265.
Marden, J.H. & M.G. Kramer. 1995. Plecopteran surface-
skimmingandinsectflightevolution.Science270:1685.
Figure6. Sherlock Holmes Pub, on Baker Street, in Guelph,
Ricker,W.E.1958.HandbookofComputationsforBiological
Ontario. A little known facet of Bill Ricker’s career was his
Statistics of Fish Populations. Fisheries Research Board of
interestinSherlockHolmesandhiswritingsonthesubject(see
Canada,Bulletin119.300pp.
lifetimelistofpublications).
Ricker,W.E.1973.Russian–EnglishDictionaryforStudentsof
FisheriesandAquaticBiology.BulletinoftheFisheriesRe-
Agreatdealmorecould,andshould,bewritten searchBoardofCanada183:428pp.
Ricker,W.E.1995.Moriarty,FermatandEinstein.Anaddendum
about Bill Ricker, his science, his personal and
to‘‘Theabsentcorpsemysterysolved’’.CanadianHolmes19:
professionalaccomplishmentsandhisinfluenceson
10–11.
somanyothers.Westillhaveagreat dealtolearn Ricker, W.E. & J.T. Schnute. 1999. A westward trajectory
fromBill. extensionfortheearth-grazingfireballsseen on9February
1913.CanadianField-Naturalist.113:693–697.