Derek Yalden (1940-2013)

Derek was a pupil at Surbiton County Grammar School (Surrey) in the late 1950s.  From here he progressed to University College London (UCL) and graduated to become one of the most versatile and ‘complete’ zoologists of his generation.

He joined The Mammal Society, attending his first Annual Conference in 1963.  Thereafter, Derek contributed significantly to The Mammal Society's Occasional Publications and the early editions of the Handbook of British Mammals, finally overseeing the massive task of completing its fourth edition (Harris & Yalden, 2008). He was awarded the Society's Silver Medal in 1989.  Derek also served as Editor of Mammal Review for 22 years (1980-2012) and was a very active and enthusiastic President for 16 years, a post that he still held at the time of his death.

Derek’s research activity was recognised most deservedly in 2010 when the Linnean Society of London awarded him its Gold Medal in Zoology. Derek graduated from UCL in 1962, gaining one of the few 1st class degrees then awarded in Zoology.  He then transferred to Royal Holloway College (University of London), where he completed his PhD on the functional morphology of the mammalian carpus in 1966.  

In 1965, Derek was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Zoology at the University of Manchester where he served until his retirement as Reader in 2005. Manchester allowed Derek to pursue his wide range of interests and, in particular, focus on the ecology of mammals and birds.  He produced early papers on urban ecology, but it was in the nearby Peak District where he began long-term studies on moorland restoration, upland ecology and climate change involving sandpipers, golden plovers, mountain hares and feral wallabies. Fieldwork remained a regular, high priority for Derek, for more than 40 years and led to a series of influential papers in leading journals.

In 1972, Derek married his wife Pat and they later moved to Chapel-en-le-Frith. Here, Derek kept detailed records (Yalden, 1993) and began to realise important ecological differences between the common and pigmy shrews in terms of their ability to colonise moorland, with a direct bearing on the vexed question of why pigmy shrews occur in Ireland and common shrews do not.  Thus began Derek’s interest in Irish faunal origins and more widely the history of the fauna of the British Isles based on archaeological excavations and the analysis of place names, publishing original papers and reviews on Quaternary and Holocene mammals and birds.  In time, this led to two excellent, critically acclaimed books (Yalden, 1999; Yalden & Albarella 2009) which together epitomise Derek’s approach to research and publication. 

Derek took part in five expeditions to the wilder parts of Ethiopia, which significantly advanced knowledge of the mammals and amphibians of the country. Several species new to science were discovered, including three (a frog- Leptopelis yaldeni, and two rodents- Desmomys yaldeni and Otomys yaldeni) formally named in recognition of Derek's contribution to studies of the Ethiopian fauna. Derek and his colleagues later published over 20 papers on the Ethiopian fauna, including the first behavioural observations of the elusive giant mole rat (Yalden, 1975) and a six-part catalogue and taxonomic review of Ethiopian and Eritrean mammals. Derek also developed strong links with the University of Addis Ababa.  Over his career, he supervised 20 graduate students successfully and served as External Examiner for 34 theses at 21 different universities.

He was involved in early meta-analyses on abundance, body size and species richness relationships (Greenwood et al. 1996) and was invited to join a group of researchers to consider the 100 ecological questions of highest policy relevance in the UK (Sutherland et al. 2006). Derek held to his principles in everything he did and remained active publishing up to the present with further work in hand.  He made a major contribution to the first Atlas of British Mammals (Arnold, 1993) and was working on a new version as well as new work on postglacial colonisation by mammals.

Derek's charm and good humour put strangers at their ease and entertained friends and colleagues.  He was witty and self-deprecating, a compulsive tease who could take a joke.  On field courses, Derek instructed and led students into field ecology engendering interest amongst the most unmotivated. He was not only a highly regarded researcher, teacher and scholar, he will remain much admired and loved as a person by all those who were fortunate to have him as a friend or enjoy his support.  He died quietly in his sleep during a rare and brief holiday in the Forest of Dean, where he was looking forward to seeing his first British wild boar. His paper on the ecology and final demise of the wallaby population in the Peak District was published the week after his death (Yalden, 2013).

Taken from the obituary written by Pat Morris for the Mammal Review

Derek’s contribution to the understanding of ecology and distribution of mammals in Britain was magnificent.  There is no doubt that Derek has inspired many people and his many publications, but particularly “Mammals of the British Isles Handbook”, will be a lasting legacy for ecologists.    

Helen Roy, Biological Records Centre

Memorial event

In July there will be a memorial event to celebrate the life and achievements of Derek Yalden, following his untimely death.
Many friends and colleagues will want to attend, but it has proved difficult to access his email address list and to ensure that everyone is contacted who would wish to be invited. This is a brief note to say the event will be held at the University of Manchester on the afternoon of Saturday July 13th. If you would like to attend or contribute a brief written tribute to Derek, please contact Pat Morris at p.morris5@btinternet.com direct for further details.

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