IN MEMORIAM: FRANCOIS BOURLIERE, 1913-1993


François Vuilleumier,  Department of Ornithology, The American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA 


Francois Bourlière, a Corresponding Fellow  of the AOU since 1954, died suddenly in Boulogne, France, on 10 November 1993. He is survived by his wife, two sons, one daughter, and  eight  grandchildren.  With  his  passing the  French  and  international  scientific  communities have lost a remarkable scientist who pursued two careers simultaneously. He was one  of the most influential French ecologists and  one of the best-known French gerontologists of  the second half of this century.  Born 21 December 1913 in  Roanne (Loire,  France), Francois Marie Gabriel Bourlière studied medicine at the University of Paris, where  he obtained his Doctorate in 1940 and his Agrégation in 1949. After being Professor of Physiology at Rouen's School of Medicine  (1946-  1949), he moved to the Faculty of Medicine of  the University of Paris, where he became Maitre  de Conferences (Assistant Professor; 1949-1959),  then Full Professor (1959-1968) of Experimental  Medicine, and Professor of  Gerontology  (1969-1983). Concurrently, he taught mammalian ecology as Chargé de Cours (Adjunct Professor) at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris (1962-1980). In addition, Bourlière  founded  in  1972  and  directed  until  1983  the Gerontology Research Unit (U 118) of INSERM  (Institute  of  Health  and  Medical  Research), and  was a staff member  of  the  Paris  Hospitals (1963-1983). As a practicing gerontologist who taught and headed an important  research institute, Bourlière published numerous articles and wrote  or edited several books,  including Précis de gérontologie (1955, Russian  translation 1960), Sénescence et sénilité (1958,  Russian translation 1962), Progrès en Gérontologie  (1969), and Gérontologie: Biologie et clinique (1982).  He was coeditor of the journal Gerontologia from  1957 to 1970, and editor-in-chief of Gerontology  from  1971  to  1983.  If Bourlière had been only a gerontologist  with  an  international  reputation, his career  would have been considered successful enough.  However, he was also an ornithologist, a mammalogist, and an ecologist who pursued his  hobby, as he called his nonmedical career, just  as vigorously. During his parallel career he was  editor-in-chief of Revue d'Ecologie (formerly La  Terre et la Vie) from  1949 until  his death, and published 16 books, including: Eléments d'un  guide bibliographique du naturaliste (2 vols., 1940-  1941); Vie et moeurs des mammifères (1951, published in English as The Natural History of Mammals in  1954, revised  1956, second  revised  edition  1964); Le Monde des Mammifères (1954,  translated in six languages); Introduction de l'écologie des ongulés (1960); The Land and Wildlife  of Eurasia (1964); African Ecology and Human Evolution (coedited with  F. Clark  Howell,  1963);  Problèmes d'gchantillonnage des peuplements animaux terrestres (coedited with M. Lamotte, 1969);  Problèmes d'échantillonnage des peuplements animaux aquatiquesStructure et fonctionnement des écosystèmes terrestres (1978); Tropical Savannas (Ecosystems of  the World, volume 13, 1983, reprinted 1992); A  Primate Radiation: Evolutionary Biology of African  Guenons (coedited with  A. Gautier-Hion,  J.P.  Gautier, and J. Kingdon, 1988); and Vertebrates  in Complex Ecosystems (coedited with  M. Har-  melin-Vivien,  1989). Francois Bourlière  translated  into  French  Birds as Animals  (Les Oiseaux  dans le règne animal, 1949) by James Fisher, a  book  that  had  much  influence  on  French  ornithology in the early fifties. Bourlière also wrote  ornithological articles in journals like the Wilson  Bulletin, L'Oiseau et la Revue française d'ornithologie, Revue Suisse de Zoologie, Comptes rendus  des séances de la Société de Biologie, and Journal of  the Bombay Natural History Society. Among his  most significant publications on birds are probably those on the breeding and physiology of  the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) in  Antarctica  and  on  the  interactions  between  resident and migrant birds in tropical west Africa.  Perhaps even more important than his productivity in gerontology and vertebrate biolo-gy, however, are Bourlière's contributions to  conservation, education, and  science policy.  Largely stemming from his fieldwork in Africa  in the early sixties, Bourlière became concerned  with the fate of Africa's fauna. He published  detailed  articles  on  the  conservation  of selected  taxa, and more general ones on conservation  policy and the role of national parks. An indefatigable traveller, Bourlière attended international meetings year after year to promote  the cause of conservation, especially in the tropics. Back home,  he was active  in  conservation  organizations. Thus, he was Vice  President  (1960-1963) and President (1963-1966)  of the  International  Union  for  Conservation  of Nature  and Natural Resources (IUCN),  President of the  French  Société  Nationale  de  Protection  de  la  Nature  (1972-1982), and Chairman of the Executive Council of Man and the Biosphere (MAB)  at UNESCO (1971-1975), a wide-ranging program that he helped start.  As an educator, Francois Bourlière  encouraged young researchers to carry out fieldwork  in the tropics, reviewed their progress during  their thesis work, insisted that they publish their  results, and helped them find jobs once they  had obtained their degree. Many of today's most  important avian and mammalian ecologists in  France,  thus, are in his debt. Worried  that  ecology in France was not on an equal footing with  more established sciences, Bourlière  found  time  to lobby successfully, especially within  the  powerful Centre National de  la  Recherche  Scientifique (CNRS). As Jacques Blondel (in lift.)  put it: "People of my generation owe him  just about everything that was done so that  modern ecology [would] be fully accepted within the CNRS, the University System, and other  institutions  ....  "  Bourlière was rewarded by numerous honors,  including two doctorates honoris causa (University of Ulster, 1973; University of Sherbooke,  1992), the French Legion of Honor (Chevalier,  1970;  Officer, 1989), the Dutch Royal Order of  the Golden Ark (1974), Corresponding Membership at the American Museum of Natural  History (1974), and Honorary Membership in  World  Wildlife  Fund International  (1984).  Lest this memorial piece appear as only a list  of accomplishments, I wish to emphasize the  personal side of Francois Bourlière. During my  visits to Paris, he would invite me to his magnificent apartment, where exquisite meals were  served and where the topics ranged from the  latest ornithological discoveries to mathematical models in ecology, and from Australian politics to the most recent literary prizes in France.  When overseas guests were present, the conversation  would  flow  from  French  into  English or  German. His wife and children imparted a warm family atmosphere to these magical  reunions.  Bourlière was always up on the latest literature, across taxa from birds to plants, across disciplines, and on a worldwide basis. In the Revue  d'Ecologie he published innumerable book reviews,  which  I  read  as soon  as I  received  the  journal. His critical analyses of field guides, as  well as technical books, were a pure delight.  Interestingly, his three desks at home, at the Faculty of Medicine, and at his Gerontology  Institute always were impeccably ordered, as  if he did not work there. And yet, he wrote  constantly and edited two major journals simultaneously, one in gerontology and the other  in ecology. How he did all this remains largely  a mystery. He certainly had efficient secretaries,  yet much of his correspondence was in his own  neat hand writing. Francois Bourlière was an  exceptional man, what the French call a "polymathe," a Renaissance man in the best sense  of  the  word. (coedited with M. Lamotte, 1971).