This volume of papers on the life-history styles of fishes is respectfully dedicated to Eugene K. Balon, Professor at the University of Guelph, on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday on 1 August 1990.
Eugene Balon's own epigenesis is ample evidence for the validity of his saltatory life-history model, as his professional life can clearly be divided into four relatively stable periods. At the end of each of these periods, having completed various functions and developed further skills, he rapidly passed through a threshold to a more specialised state which enabled him to perform new integrated functions. The embryonic period, during which he was nurtured by a rich tradition of meticulous embryological and ecological studies in East Bloc countries, lasted from 1953 to 1967 while he was resident in Czechoslovakia. He steadily developed his expertise and published a series of papers in Czech, Slovak, German, Polish and English , primarily on the breeding, development, growth and distribution of freshwater fishes. He also conducted numerous high altitude diving surveys and developed a reputation as one of the leading field ichthyologists in eastern Europe. But, alas, the relatively restrictive environment of eastern Europe precluded the option of direct development -the endogenous supply of stimulants was clearly insufficientand he was forced to expand his conceptual and geographical horizons further before the definitive phenotype could be formed. The first indications of his interests in saltation (1958) and ecological groups of fishes (1965) became apparent during this period, and there are also early hints (1965) of a yearning to study fishes in warmer climates.
Shortly after having an article on conservation of the Danube environment confiscated by the authorities (1964) and after authoring a paper entitled 'The conscience of a scientist ' (1965), he was allowed to accept a post as Fish Biologist on an UNDP/FAO project on the northern shores of Lake Kariba in Zambia (1967), and thus entered his larval period. During the following four years he was frenetically busy collecting data and broadening his experience in a new, tropical environment. He co-edited and authored major books on Lake Kariba (1974) and published a series of authoritative papers on the fishes of the Middle and Upper Zambezi system, as well as the Zaire system. He also made valuable collections of indigenous arts and crafts, some of which now decorate his picturesque home in the Ontario countryside. He developed a strong affinity for Africa and its people which is reflected in his continuing interest in the Koi-San.
After an extensive metamorphosis, he crossed his next threshold rapidly and in somewhat unorthodox fashion, migrating to North America where he accepted a post of Associate Professor (1972) and then Professor (1976) in the Department of Zoology at the University of Guelph in Canada. During this juvenile period, he involved himself deeply in teaching, but still continued to produce a series of papers on fishes, either singly or with his students and colleagues. He became founder and editor-in-chief of the new journal 'Environmental Biology of Fishes' (1976) as well as the book series 'Perspectives in Vertebrate Science ' (1979) and 'Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes' (1981), and published a major book on charrs in 1980. During this period his miscellaneous contributions to ichthyology began to gel and mature into a unique synthesis which combined elements of his early European scholarship, the breadth of his African experience and the exhilaration of working in a free and stimulating First World country.
His adult period has been characterised by an explosion of highly innovative ideas on the reproductive guilds of fishes (1975), altricial-precocial homeorhetic states (1979), the theory of saltatory ontogeny (1981, 1986), the Chen principle (1983) and the similarity of bifurcations in Nature to Taoist harmony rather than to dialectic conflict (1988). During this time he became a spokesman for the epigenetic school and a committed 'structuralist'. He also bounded off on sabbatical leave to West Germany (1979), Borneo (1980) and South Africa (1987) and participated in collecting expeditions to, inter alia, Florida, the California, Nevada and Arizona deserts, the Com oro Islands and the Okavango Delta. As a result of his ability to read eastern and Some stages in the life history of Eugene K. Balon: During the embryonic period (top row) as a young biologist in Czechoslovakia (1954), as a student in Prague (1952), and on a diving expedition to Cuba (1965). During his larval period (centre row right) enormous quantities of fishes were processed on the shores of Lake Kariba, Zambia (1968). The journal EBF and the book series Perspectives in Vertebrate Science were started during the juvenile period (centre and bottom left). The logo of the journal (and its reprint series Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes) dates back, of course, to the Cretaceous as the overlaid holostean tail from the Santana formation in Brazil demonstrates (photos by Herb Rauscher). Glimpses into the adult period (bottom centre) show the Editor-in-Chief in his office (1989) scrutinizing manuscripts (photo by David Thomas); and during his most recent sabbatical (1987) on the shore in Domoni, Anjouan, Comoro Islands, measuring (with Mike Bruton) a poorly stuffed coelacanth.
更多信息……