Valerius Geist: a global leader in deer biology and conservation

Jo Anne M. Smith-Flueck; Stefano Mattioli

doi:10.1071/AN23296

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Valerius Geist: a global leader in deer biology and conservation

Jo Anne M. Smith-Flueck

^A ^B ^* and Stefano Mattioli ^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Laboratorio de Teriogenología ‘Dr Héctor H. Morello’, IBAC-CITAAC, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Cinco Saltos, Río Negro 8303, Argentina.

^B Fundación Shoonem, Alto Río Senguer, Chubut U9033, Argentina.

^C Research Unit of Behavioural Ecology, Ethology and Wildlife Management, Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.

^* Correspondence to: j.smith@deerlab.org

Handling Editor: Wayne Bryden

Animal Production Science 63(16) 1559-1563 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN23296
Submitted: 5 September 2023 Accepted: 6 October 2023 Published: 26 October 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Professor Valerius Geist was a world-renowned deer biologist who made important contributions to deer science, especially in the areas of animal behaviour, the evolution of cervids in the Pleistocene, and deer conservation. One of his greatest accomplishments was to define the core principles that have made wildlife management unique in North America. The deer science community deeply regrets his passing in 2021.

Keywords: animal behavior, cervid biology, cervid evolution, deer conservation, dispersal theory, ethology, North America wildlife management, phenotypic plasticity, ungulate behavior, ungulate biology, ungulate management, Valerius Geist.

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