The Darwin Medal, the most prestigious award given by ISRS, is presented every four years at the International Coral Reef Symposium. It is awarded to a senior ISRS member who is recognized worldwide for major scientific contributions throughout their career. Previous recipients have been David Stoddart, Peter Glynn, Ian Macintyre, Yossi Loya, Charlie Veron and Terry Hughes.

We congratulate Prof. Jeremy B. C. Jackson, the recipient of the 2012 ISRS Darwin Medal.

Jeremy is a world leader in the science of conservation of coral reefs and coastal marine ecosystems. He is the author of more than 150 publications and seven books. His early discoveries on coral reefs were major insights into the intensity and complexity of spatial competition, and the importance of clonal (modular) life histories. He has also pioneered long term observations and experiments to assess the comparative importance of larval recruitment, competition for space and food, predation, and environmental perturbations as determinants of reef community development and succession. He has worked extensively on the ecology of coral reef assemblages and the tempo and mode of speciation in the sea.

His current interests include the long-term impacts of human activities on the oceans, and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of the gradual formation of the Isthmus of Panama. Jeremy’s latest research has focussed on the investigation of human historical impacts on marine ecosystems. His paper entitled “Historical Overfishing and the Recent Collapse of Coastal Ecosystems” has been cited more than 2000 times in the scientific literature, and has been the subject of hundreds of media accounts in major print media, radio, and television.

Jeremy was Convenor of the memorable 8th ICRS in Panama in 1996. His most recent contribution to coral reef conservation is his role as Director of the new IUCN administration of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, for which he is striving to provide a new rigor to assessment of the global status of coral reefs. Jeremy’s research, mentoring and extended influence in multiple scientific disciplines, in government and society, makes him both a public and academic scientist of the highest calibre.

Jeremy’s Darwin Medal talk will be on Friday 13 July 2012 at ICRS 2012.