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Kit Kovacs
NationalityCanadian
Alma materBSc York University
MSc Lakehead University
PhD University of Guelph
Scientific career
FieldsMarine mammal biology
InstitutionsNorwegian Polar Institute
University Centre in Svalbard

Kit Kovacs is an marine mammal researcher, best known for her work on biology, conservation and management of whales and seals. She is based at the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), Tromsø[1] and is an Adjunct professor of biology, Marine Biology, at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS).[2]

Early life and education

Although Kovacs now resides in Norway she was born in Germany and has Canadian citizenship. She received her H.B.Sc. (Biology) in 1979 from York University, Toronto. In 1982 she was awarded her M.Sc. (Biology) by the Lakehead University (Thunder Bay). Her Ph.D. (Zoology) was awarded by the University of Guelph (Guelph) in 1986.[3]

Career and impact

Kovacs has more than 12 years teaching experience, starting as an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo.[3] She is now the senior research scientist for the Biodiversity Research Programme at the Centre for Ice Climate and Ecosystems (ICE)[4] at the Norwegian Polar Institute,[1] as well as a professor of biology at University Studies on Svalbard (UNIS).[5][6]

She has studied marine mammal population ecology, biology conservation and management for the past 30 years.[5][7] Successfully having completed more than 17 research studies,[1] she has been working on the satellite tagging of bowhead whales since 2010 [8] and the biopsy sampling of whales since 2006.[9] She has also worked extensively on seals.[10]

In addition to more than 200 publications, she has also written book chapters, popular articles, reports and has given numerous plenary and video lectures.[1][7][11][12][13][14] Kovacs has also successfully facilitated cooperation between the tourism industry and researchers in the Arctic region.[15][16]

Kovacs has been the President of the Society for Marine Mammalogy[5] and now plays an advisory role as Past President for Life and is currently serving her second term as the Chair of the IUCN's Pinniped Specialist Group.[5][7] She served as a representative to the Standing Scientific Group – Life Science under SCAR from 2012-2015,[17][18] and as a member of Norway’s delegation to the Scientific Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.[19]

She has held offices of Chairman to the Academic User's Board of the Huntsman Marine Science Centre (1985- 1992), a member of the Board of Directors for the Huntsman Marine Science Centre (1990-1994), was the secretary of the Canadian National Council for the International Union of Biological Studies (NSERC) from 1989-1992, and editorial board Member for the Canadian Journal of Zoology from 1990-1994, a board member for the Arctic Light and Heat (ALV) Programme from Jan 1997- Dec 31, 2002, at the Norwegian National Research Council, the president of the International Society for Marine Mammalogy from 2004-2006 and still a member of its scientific advisory council[20] and conservation council,l[20] a member of the Arctic Climate Biodiversity,[21] Impact Assessment Working Group,[22] as well as a contributing author to the ACIA (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment) report in Chapter 9: Marine Systems[23] and Chapter 11: Management and Conservation of Wildlife in a Changing Arctic Environment.[24]

Kovacs was a committee member in 2003-2006[25][26][27][28] for the NERC (United Kingdom) Special Committee on Seals (SCOS). Kovacs was an International coordinator for the Ringed Seal Circumpolar Network at the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) from 2000–2008,[29][30] a member and leader of the Impacts on Sea Ice Reductions in the NorACIA (Norwegian Arctic Climate Impact Assessment) – Group III, as well as a member of the Barend Sea Advisory Group at NorACIA.[3]

Kovacs is currently on the steering committee for the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Climate Change Specialist Group,[31] a member of the Biodiversity Centre Programme Scientific Committee (Polar Environmental Centre) since 2001,[32] has been on the Scientific Advisory Board Member for the American Cetacean Society since 2004,[33] serves on the Committee for Scientific Advisers and the Conservation Committee for the Society for Marine Mammalogy,[20] is a member of the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research[34] and is on the EU Life Sciences Standing Committee, representing Norway.[3]

Kovacs was also the leader of Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole” (MEOP) project during the International Polar Year[35] and worked on the Barents Sea walrus Ecology project, which focused on studying stock structure, movement patterns and general ecology of Barents Sea walruses in collaboration with Russia (2014–15) and on Pechora walrus abundance, which focused on the abundance determination of Pechora Sea walruses in collaboration with Russia (2011–12).[36]

Awards and honors

Kovacs awards include a Lakehead University Graduate Entrance Scholarship (1079/80), a Thunder Bay Field Naturalists' Award (1980/81),[37] an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (1980-1982), an AOU Best Student Paper Award (1081/81), multiple NSERC Postgraduate Science Scholarships (1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84), a Commonwealth Scholarship (1982/83), a University of Guelph Graduate Fellowship (1982/83), a Norman James Aquatic Mammals Fellowship in 1985[38] and a NSERC/NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship (1986/87).[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Kit M. Kovacs". Norwegian Polar Institute. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  2. ^ "Kit M. Kovacs". unis.no. University Centre in Svalbard. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  3. ^ a b c d e Kovacs, Kit. "CV" (PDF). polar-academy.com.
  4. ^ "ICE Ecosystems and research - ICE Ecosystems". Norwegian Polar Institute. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  5. ^ a b c d "Kit M. Kovacs Overview". store.elsevier.com. Elsevier. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  6. ^ "Kit M. Kovacs - UNIS". UNIS. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  7. ^ a b c "Kit Kovacs — Climate Change Specialist Group (CCSG)". iucn-ccsg.org. Archived from the original on 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2016-06-05. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "Satellite tagging of bowhead whales". Norwegian Polar Institute. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  9. ^ "Biopsy sampling whales". Norwegian Polar Institute. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  10. ^ "Seal Ripper | Sable Island | Greenland Shark | Zoe Lucas | Lisa Natanson - Animal World Wonders". Animal World Wonders. 2015-08-09. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  11. ^ "Kit Kovacs - Advice for Students". Vimeo. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  12. ^ Kit Kovacs | Historical Perspectives Interview Excerpt, Aquatic Mammals Journal, 2012-11-15, retrieved 2016-06-05
  13. ^ "Global Outlook for Ice and Snow". www.unep.org. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  14. ^ FRAMSHORTS (2012-03-22), ARCTIC ANIMAL FACTS - Hooded seals: the worlds fastest gainers, retrieved 2016-06-05
  15. ^ "Successful cooperation between the tourism industry and researchers". CNNS. 2015. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  16. ^ "Exciting observations – extraordinary images". The Arctic Journal. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  17. ^ "Mandate for representatives to Standing Scientific Groups and Standing Committees under the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR)". Forskningsradet.no. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  18. ^ Written by:. "International Committees - POLARPROG". Forskningsradet.no. Retrieved 2016-06-21.((cite web)): CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  19. ^ "Antarctic Ocean Alliance". antarcticocean.org. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  20. ^ a b c "Society for Marine Mammalogy". Society for Marine Mammalogy. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  21. ^ "Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) - Home". Arcticbiodiversity.is. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  22. ^ "Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) - Authors". Arcticbiodiversity.is. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  23. ^ "Ch9 Final" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  24. ^ David R. Klein. "Chapter 11: Management and Conservation of Wildlife in a Changing Arctic Environment" (PDF). Acia.uaf.edu. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  25. ^ "Scientific Advice on Matters Related to the Management of Seal Populations" (PDF). 2003. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  26. ^ "Scientific Advice on Matters Related to the Management of Seal Populations" (PDF). 2004. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  27. ^ "Scientific Advice on Matters Related to the Management of Seal Populations" (PDF). 2005. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  28. ^ "Scientific Advice on Matters Related to the Management of Seal Populations" (PDF). 2006. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  29. ^ Kit M. Kovacs (ed.). "Circumpolar Ringed Seal (Pusa hispida) Monitoring" (PDF). Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  30. ^ "CAFF - CBMP Coordination Meeting: Akureyri, Iceland: April 11-12, 2002". Caff.is. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  31. ^ "Participants". iucn-ccsg.org. Climate Change Specialist Group. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  32. ^ "AGU Fall Meeting". 2015 AGU Fall Meeting. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  33. ^ Dutton, Ian, ed. (2010). "Climate Change: Challenges to Cetacean Conservation". Journal of the American Cetacean Society. 39 (2). ((cite journal)): |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  34. ^ "Members - The Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research". www.polar-academy.com. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  35. ^ "International Polar Year's unique research assistants". www.forskningsradet.no. The Research Council of Norway. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  36. ^ "Norway 2015" (PDF). Iasc.info. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  37. ^ "Thunder Bay Field Naturalists". tbfn.net. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  38. ^ Kovacs, Kit M.; Lavigne, D. M. (16 June 1986). "Cystophora cristata" (PDF). American Society of Mammalogists. 258: 1–9.
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