Robbins, Ross Gordon |
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(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 8: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement II) |
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Born: 1919, Wanganui, New Zealand. |
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Was educated in New Zealand (M.Sc. Botany 1950); Ph.D. of the University of New Zealand in 1957, on a thesis on the New Zealand Forest History. From 1942-45 with the New Zeal. Army Forces in the Middle East; 1951-56 University Lecturer in Botany, mostly in New Zealand, but two years in Jamaica (1951-52); 1957-60 Plant Ecologist C.S.I.R.O. New Guinea Land Surveys; 1961-66 Research Fellow in Biogeography, Australian National University; for seven months acting as the first curator of the Canberra Botanic Gardens; in 1966 appointed Professor in Botany in the new university at Port Moresby, Papua, taking up the post in July 1967; in Aug. 1970 he accepted an appointment teaching biogeography at Canberra University. His major interests are phytogeography and rain-forest ecology in the Pacific. About 1970 he resigned and still lives in Australia. Some plants, including Dimorphantera robbinsii Sleumer and Barbula robbinsii Bartr. have been named in his honour. |
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1957. E. New Guinea:1 Eastern and Western Highlands (Goroka-Mt Hagen area) incl. Mt Wilhelm, Mt Hagen, and Mt Giluwe (June-Oct.).-1958. Lower Ramu Valley, incl. Adelbert Ranges (July-Oct.); W. Java (Dec.).-1959. E. New Guinea: Lower Sepik Valley, incl. Prince Alexander Range (June-Oct.).-1960. Western Highlands, Wabag area (June-Sept.).2-1963. In Oct.-Nov. collecting trip in N. Thailand, and proceeding to Malaya.3-1965. Philippines. Mindanao: slopes Mt Talomo (Oct. 2), lower slopes Mt Apo (6), side ridge Mt Apo (c. 2000 m) (7), Mt Talomo (c. 1400 m) (11); Luzon: Mt Pulog (c. 2700 m) (24-25), reaching all the summits. |
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End 1961 totalling from 1-3430; duplicates infrequent. In Herb. Lae [LAE], Leiden [L], etc. This collection includes some 750 mosses,4 of which a small set from Java. The CSIRO numbers include a few dozen Queensland rain-forest plants. Thailand collection in ? Herb. Canberra [CANB]; dupl. (nos 3536-3689) in Bangkok [BKF]; mosses also at Leiden [L] (from Malaya 3690-3709). Some 50 nos from the Philippines sent to Leiden [L] of which sterile material thrown away. His collections include numbers from New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Fiji, Solomons, Java, Malaya, New Zealand, U.S.A., Canada, and Hawaii. |
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(1) R.G. Robbins: ‘Montane formations in the Central Highlands of New Guinea’ (Proc. Symp. Humid Trop. Veg. Tjiawi 1958, 1961, p. 176-195, map); ‘The montane vegetation of New Guinea’ (Tuatara 8, 1961, p. 121-134); ‘The vegetation of New Guinea’ (Austr. Tern 1, 1961, p. 21-32); H.A. Haantjes, R.G. Robbins c.s.: ‘Lands of the Goroka-Mount Hagen area, Territory of Papua and New Guinea’ (Land Res. Ser. no 27, 1970, p. 1-159, 15 fig., 23 tab., maps). (2) Cf. ‘General report on Lands of the Wabag-Tari area, Territory of Papua and New Guinea 1960-61’ (C.S.I.R.O. Land Res. ser. no 15, Melbourne 1965; vegetation description by Pullen and Robbins, p. 100-113 with 16 photogr.). (3) R.G. Robbins & J. Wyatt Smith: ‘Dry land forest formations and forest types in the Malayan Peninsula’ (Mal. For. 27, 1964, p. 188-216, 12 fig.). (4) Cf. H. Crum in Bryologist 62, 1959, p. 283-289; E.B. Bartram: ‘Contributions to the Mosses of the Highlands of Eastern New Guinea’ (Brittonia 11, no 2, 1959); ‘Low Altitude Mosses from Northwest New Guinea’ (ibid. 13, 1961, p. 368-380); ‘Mosses of the Western Highlands of Eastern New Guinea’ (Rev. Bryol. Lichén. B.S. 30, 1961, p. 185-207). |