Monday, December 13, 2010

2010 Goldie Award

The Field Botanists of Ontario were pleased to present the 2010 John Goldie Award to Dr. Paul Maycock of the Department of Botany, University of Toronto Mississauga (AKA Erindale College) at the 2010 AGM held on September 11, 2010. The award was largely based on his significant long-term contributions involving studies of plant communities in Ontario.

Paul’s Ph.D. thesis at University of Wisconsin was on the phytosociology of Great Lakes forests and along the way, he published his first paper on plant communities in Ontario. Paul first accepted a position at McGill University but later moved to University of Toronto Mississauga where he remains as Professor Emeritus in Plant Ecology. Along with various students and collaborators, he built up an extensive database relating to plant community structure and distribution in Ontario Paul not only worked in Ontario forests but in the forests of Quebec and different regions of the world. He has documented the floral composition of 2704 sites covering 29 plant community types across Ontario and Quebec. This included 660 Boreal Forest sites and 540 Deciduous-Evergreen Coniferous Forest sites.

Paul was instrumental in preserving such notable botanical sites as the Ojibway Prairie in Windsor, as well as Cawthra Woods and the Creditview Bog, both in the City of Mississauga. The Field Botanists of Ontario are pleased to recognize the botanical contributions and conservation effort of this distinguished scientist.