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Homage to William Bond

December 10th, 2025 Leave a comment Go to comments

William J. Bond (University of Cape Town) passed away on 4 December 2025. This is a great loss. He was an extraordinary and enthusiastic ecologist, and a critical thinker who greatly influenced many of us. I learned so much from him, and I still had so much more to learn. We will certainly miss him. To remember him, you could listen to his powerful talk on behalf of grasses! a seminal lesson in savanna ecology. Personally, I also find it nice to hear his voice in that video.
Here are a few pictures I have of him (click to enlarge).

November 2006, Otay Mountains (San Diego, southern California). From left to right: Malcom Gill, Dylan Schwilk, Ross Bradstock, Peter Clarke, William Bond, and Juli Pausas. Photo by Jon Keeley.
February 2007, Alicante, Spain. From left to right: Ian Wright, Wilfried Thuiller, Andy Gillison, William Bond, and Juli Pausas. In the back: Bill Shipley.

Juli Pausas and William Bond. Left: April 2018, London, working on the Alternative Biome States paper. Right:  2017, Cádiz, Spain, sitting below a recently debarked cork oak. Photos: J. Belliure, F. Ojeda

Update:
Orbituary by RA Butler: William Bond, defender of grasslands [link]

  1. Laco Mucina
    December 28th, 2025 at 05:47 | #1
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    That unidentified Australian ecologist is Andy Gillison (Alicante 2007).

  2. Juli G. Pausas
    December 28th, 2025 at 12:10 | #2
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    Yes, right, he was there! Thank you, I have now included his name in the caption.

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