To celebrate Emeritus Professor Roger Kitching’s contributions to science, Austral Ecology has published a special issue (vol. 41, issue 2, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.2016.41.issue-2/issuetoc) with papers published by his students, post-doctoral fellows and colleagues. Roger is an Adjunct Professor of XTBG and has been working with Chinese colleagues at XTBG including Professor CAO Min for nearly 20 years. One of the prominent collaborative projects is QCAS (Queensland – Chinese Academic of Sciences) Biotechnology Fund which has generated over 10 scientific papers in journals including Ecology Letters, Journal of Biogeography and Journal of Vegetation Science.
Roger has written or co-edited 12 books and written over 220 peer reviewed scientific articles including Science, Trends in Ecology and Evolution and Ecology. His research interests include moth taxonomy and biodiversity, invertebrate food webs, invertebrate biodiversity monitoring, and elevational and latitudinal biodiversity patterns. Roger has been heavily involved in advising the Australian government on environmental issues and appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (highest honour in Australia) for ‘service to conservation science as an academic, researcher and educator, particularly in the field of tropical rainforest ecology and ecosystem management’.
Associate Professor Akihiro Nakamura at XTBG, Roger’s former PhD student, has known Roger for 20 years since he was an undergraduate student at Griffith University. He has published three papers in this issue.