Alexander L. Bond is a Canadian conservation biologist,

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

, and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

. He holds the position of Principal Curator and Curator in Charge of Birds at the

Natural History Museum at Tring The Natural History Museum at Tring was the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild; today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum, London. It houses one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptil ...

. Bond is actively involved with the marine plastics pollution research group Adrift Lab. Additionally, he serves as the

Ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

in Residence at St Nicholas Church, Leicester, a church known for its

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

-inclusive stance.

Education

In 2005, Bond completed a B.Sc. with Honors in biology from

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to award a baccal ...

, during which he published a thesis titled ''Daytime spring migrations of scoters (Melanitta spp.) in the Bay of Fundy''. Subsequently, he pursued a M.Sc at the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...

, completing his studies in 2007. His thesis was entitled ''Patterns of mercury burden in the seabird community of Machias Seal Island, New Brunswick''. Bond completed a Ph.D. in 2011 at

Memorial University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland, or MUN (), is a Public university, public research university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook ...

, with a doctoral thesis titled ''Relationships between oceanography and the demography & foraging of

auk Auks or alcids are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the Uria, murres, guillemots, Aethia, auklets, puffins, and Brachyramphus, murrelets. The family contains 25 extant or recently extinct speci ...

lets (

Charadriiformes Charadriiformes (, from '' Charadrius'', the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 390 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water ...

Alcidae Auks or alcids are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The family contains 25 extant or recently extinct species that are divided into ...

: ''Aethia''; Merrem 1788) in the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

''.

Career

Bond is a conservation biologist with expertise in

marine ecology Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the sur ...

and island biology. His research interests encompass conservation, contaminants, invasive species, plastic pollution, seabird ecology, and stable isotopes. From 2011 to 2013, Bond held a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (

NSERC The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...

) post-doctoral fellowship at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

. From 2013 to 2014, he served as a visiting fellow at

Environment and Climate Change Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; )Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment (). is the department of the Government of Canada res ...

under the NSERC program. Following that, he held the position of senior conservation scientist at the Centre for Conservation Science of the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

from 2014 to 2017. Additionally, he served as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

at the

School of Environment and Sustainability from 2014 to 2019. Until 2023, he held the position of honorary researcher at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies located in

Tasmania, Australia Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. Bond holds the position of senior curator of birds in the department of life sciences at the

. Since 2012, Bond has served as a subject editor for ''Avian Conservation and Ecology'', and he assumed the role of editor-in-chief in 2019. In 2020, Bond and Beth Montague-Hellen were jointly awarded the Royal Society Athena Prize for their contributions to LGBTQ+ representation in

STEM fields Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context o ...

. In 2020, he participated in the inaugural QatCanSTEM colloquium at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

in Canada. In 2022, Bond was awarded the Marsh Award in Ornithology. Bond is widely recognized for his research on

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

in oceans, particularly focusing on the health impacts it has on

seabirds Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envi ...

. This research has led to the identification of a novel condition known as plasticosis, characterized by scarring of the digestive tracts of seabirds due to the ingestion of

plastic waste Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are cate ...

, also referred to as plastic-induced fibrosis.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, Alex Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Mount Allison University alumni University of New Brunswick alumni Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni Academic staff of the University of Tasmania Employees of the Natural History Museum, London Canadian curators Canadian ecologists Conservation biologists 21st-century Canadian biologists Canadian expatriate academics in the United Kingdom 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Canadian gay writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian science writers Gay scientists