13 September 2017

Collaborator of the Month: Dr. Charlie (J.E.N) Veron



If you have worked on corals and coral reefs, then you're probably well acquainted with the most comprehensive resource for corals there is, the 3-volume Corals of The World by John Edward Norwood Veron or as cited in the scientific community, J.E.N or Charlie Veron. Can you imagine your life without such a valuable resource? The thing is, Charlie Veron almost did not become a scientist. 

He is known today as the "Godfather of Coral" and likened by David Attenborough to Charles Darwin.

In his memoir A Life Underwater, Charlie chronicles his love for marine life as a child, his long holdup (how he almost didn't make it back to the sea), how one chance helped him pursue his true passion, and how he became a revolutionary self-taught coral specialist.



His work has been instrumental in our present understanding of coral reefs, from how they reproduce to how they evolve, and how they, in the light of climate change, have been dying. "Without his early work we wouldn't have had the basic benchmarks to see the nature of the changes that we are now seeing. He provided that baseline to put everything in context," says the scientist Tim Flannery [1].

Veron's contributions to coral reefs and marine biology are monumental. He was the first to compile a global taxonomy on corals. Also, contrary to common notion, he shed light that the the Indo-Philippines archipelago has the most diverse corals in the world, not the Great Barrier Reef. He is also known for his seminal theory, Reticulate evolution, on how corals have evolved [1]. 

To date, he he has worked on all the major coral reef regions of the world and has over 100 research publications, including 12 books and monographs on corals and coral reefs. 

Among his many books, his three-volume Corals of the World (2000), with his permission to use data and photos, has been invaluable to documenting the diversity of reef-building corals in SealifeBase. 

Over his 50-year career, Veron hasn't only been an insatiable learner of corals. He's been fearless in protecting the marine life he has reveled in his whole life. 

In his memoir, his adventures urge us not only to guard scholarly independence, but more importantly to learn to be persistent and take risks. He explains why today is the most pivotal time to protect our incredible marine life.

You may purchase Charlie's delightful memoir through this link.
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[1] Elliott, T. (2017, July 14). Live near the beach? Coral reef expert Charlie Veron has some advice for you. The Age. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2vFfOMo


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