Dr. Dolph Schluter, O.B.C., C.M.
Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Canada Research Chair, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia
Professor Schluter is the world’s foremost authority on the role that ecology plays in the origin and divergence of new species. His work has fundamentally changed our understanding of evolution, revealing the ecological mechanisms driving speciation and probing the factors generating and maintaining biodiversity. His work has appeared in Evolution, Nature, Science, and Trends in Ecology and Evolution. With close to 50,000 citations to his research, Dr. Schluter has received the Sewall Wright Award and the Darwin-Wallace Medal. His long list of honours includes membership in the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Canada, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the US National Academy of Sciences. His current work focuses on the radiation of new species of threespine sticklebacks in lakes of coastal British Columbia. The species are among the youngest on earth and occur in lakes that are less than 12,000 years old.
