David Duffy, botany professor and graduate professor of zoology, ecology, evolution and conservation biology in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Departments of Botany and Biology, was awarded the Pacific Seabird Group’s (PSG) Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to seabird management and conservation science. Duffy was honored in February during the 46th annual PSG meeting on Kauaʻi.
Duffy’s research interests vary widely by ecosystem and organism, but his focus is on how natural environments respond to perturbations, either natural or man-made, at scales ranging from the individual through the landscape.
His work has included the effect of El Niño on seabirds in Peru, as well as fishery interactions with seabirds in Peru, South Africa, Galápagos and Hawaiʻi. Duffy has supported PSG’s conservation efforts in Alaska and Hawaiʻi over the years and continues to keep the group informed about El Niño and La Niña predictions.
Duffy was also principal investigator of a biocomplexity project on avian malaria, examining whether new approaches to science might yield answers to the biggest threat to the islands’ endangered forest birds.
He currently serves as director of the UH Mānoa Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, which manages more than 300 employees and more than $14 million in projects to conserve the resources of Hawaiʻi and other Pacific Islands.
PSG created the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993 to recognize individuals that have made significant, long-term contributions to seabird science, conservation and education in the Pacific Ocean or the world.
