André Desrochers’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

André Desrochers is a Quebec scientist with expertise in ornithology and ecology.

As of 2015, he has worked for almost thirty years in these research areas. Since the mid-1990s, he also worked to promote environmental conservation through various organizations.

Academic background

After studies in biology at Laval University, Quebec and in zoology at the University of Alberta in Canada, he obtained a doctorate in zoology at the University of Cambridge in the UK. After three post-doctoral internships – in zoology at the University of Cambridge for the first (1991), the other two at Laval University including one in the biology department (1992-1993) and the other in the plant sciences department (1993-1994) – he was a visiting scholar at the department of ecology and systematic of the University of Helsinki, Finland (2001-2002) and at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the United States (2008-2009). He is a fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union.

Professional activities

His work focuses primarily on impacts of forestry practices on the behavior, ecology and rapid evolution of birds and mammals. Statistical modeling is a recurring theme in his work.

His areas of expertise are:

• urban planning;
• spatial analysis;
• animal ecology (birds, mammals);
• forestry and wildlife;
• landscape ecology;
• protection of species of fauna and flora

Specifically, his works are grouped into three sub-disciplines of ecology:

• habitat fragmentation;
• winter landscape ecology;
• peatland bird ecology

He has published over 120 scientific articles and reports which have been cited over 4000 times in the scientific literature. Regarding books, he participated in the drafting of fifteen books, alone or in collaboration with other authors. · . Besides this research, he also serves on the technical committee of the Boreal Avian Modelling Project (BAM), an international research project. He currently teaches at Laval University Québec, and is Director of Graduate Studies in forestry. Since 2000, he has devoted most of his work at the Forêt Montmorency [fr], Université Laval research and teaching forest, the largest one of its kind in the World.

In 2004, he organized the largest annual scientific meeting of bird scientists in North America, the American Ornithologists’ Union Meeting. This congress was under the auspices of Laval University and united for the occasion the Society of Canadian Ornithologists to its American counterpart.

He is also member of the following research groups:

• Centre for Forest Research (CEF-ULAVAL);
• Industrial Research Chair of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) in Peatland;
• Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG)

From 2003–2006, he led the ” Centre de recherche en biologie forestière ” (Research Center in Forest Biology) (CRBF). Founded in 1985, the CRBF merged in 2006 with the “Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Forestière interuniversitaire” (Interuniversity Research Group for Forest Ecology) (GREFi) to form the “Centre d’études de la forêt” (Centre for Forest Research) which is composed of some 60 researchers in 11 universities of Quebec.

He has been member of the scientific council of Bird Studies Canada (1997-1999), the Board of the Society of Canadian Ornithologists (1997-2001) and the North American Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology (2001-2004).

Species studied

The bird species he studied include the Eurasian blackbird, snow goose, black-capped chickadee, boreal chickadee, alpine accentor, white-throated sparrow, Bicknell’s thrush, ovenbird, pileated woodpecker. In mammals, his research has focused particularly on the American marten and the Siberian flying squirrel.

Other activities

For several years (2013-2020), he has been vice-president of the Regroupement QuébecOiseaux and a member of its board of directors, an NGO formerly known as “Quebec Association of ornithologists groups”, whose aim is to “promote the study of birds and ensure their protection and their habitats” while allowing people to enjoy the field of ornithology in Quebec. He is also responsible for the EPOQ-eBird committee.

In the 1990s, he was a member of a group of about ten volunteers who gave birth to the “Fondation pour la protection du patrimoine naturel” for the Quebec City region. One of the main achievements was the creation of the Parc des Hauts-Fonds in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures.

For the past five years (2015-2020), he has been responsible for the Christmas Bird Census in Quebec City. This activity is part of the Christmas Bird Count of the Audubon Society, an old institution over 100 years, sponsored in Canada by Bird Studies Canada. He is a member of the “Club des ornithologues de Québec” since 1978.

In May 2019, he created the Tendances Ornithologiques du Québec website, which went online the following month. For each season, the site presents a summary of bird species observed in each region of Quebec from various amateur ornithologists’ clubs.

In addition to presenting lectures from time to time, André Desrochers continues to inform the public of his observations of Quebec ornithology through his opinions and analyses by keeping a blog on the eBird Québec portal.

Militancy

Environmental activist, André Desrochers has served for the Union Québécoise pour la Conservation de la nature (now Nature Québec). He was vice-president of the latter organization from 1993–1997, and interim president in 1993. He has also presided Stratégies Saint-Laurent in 1993–1994. He has served on a Task Force for Canada’s former Environment Minister Sheila Copps, to help develop what is now Canada’s Species At Risk Act (SARA). In the blogosphere, Desrochers is known for his non-consensual writings. Formerly alarmed by global warming, he has lately become a vocal “lukewarmer”, critical of those who attempt to thwart debate on the causes of climate change and the associated policy consequences. ·

A self-described humanist, Desrochers actively promotes the use of the scientific method and contests the alarmism and misanthropy in current environmentalist discourse. ·