Liber Amicorum Prof. Dr. Ir. R.A.A. Oldeman
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25 Jaar een ”Boom der vrijheid” Liber Amicorum Prof Dr Ir R.A.A. Oldeman Edited by Hans Vester, Paul Romeijn and Hans van der Wal Treemail publishers Heelsum, The Netherlands Treebook 8 October 2004, ISBN 90-804443-9-1 Treemail Publishers, Heelsum, The Netherlands Earlier in the series: Treebook 1: Struggle of Life: or the natural history of stress and adaptation. Martial and Line Rossignol, Roelof A. A. Oldeman and Soraya Benzine-Tizroutine; 1998. Treebook 2: Green Gold: on variations of truth in plantation forestry. Paul Romeijn; 1999. Treebook 3: Chinantec shifting cultivation: InTERAcTIVE landuse. A case-study in the Chinantla, Mexico, on secondary vegetation, soils and crop performance under indigenous shifting cultivation. Hans van der Wal; 1999. Treebook 4: An exploratory study to improve the predictive capacity of the Crop Growth Monitoring System as applied by the European Commission. Iwan Supit; 2000. Treebook 5: Five thousand years of sustainability? A case study on Gedeo land use (Southern Ethiopia). Tadesse Kippie; 2002. Treebook 6: Let them eat grass: Understanding pasture-finished beef cattle farms in the American Appalachians. Jane Shaw; 2002. Treebook 7: Updated system description of the WOFOST crop growth simulation model as implemented in the Crop Growth Monitoring System applied by the European Commission. Supit, I.; Van der Goot, E.; Editors; January 2003. © 2004, Copyright by Treemail. All rights reserved. No part of these materials may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Treebooks are freebooks. They are published by Treemail according to the criteria of free, independent, original thinking and high quality warranted by the scientific performance of its authors. www.treemail.nl/books Thanks! This collection of papers, essays, letters, poem and a song was the result of a spontaneous reaction to a letter we sent to a list of ex alumni, colleagues and friends of “our Prof” saying: Dear friends, Prof. Roelof Oldeman will retire this year. During his 25 years of professorship (1977 in Montpellier; 1978-2002 in Wageningen), participation in workshops, symposia, courses and publications, he has influenced the thinking of many students and scholars in the field of forestry and ecology. His theoretical contributions are reflected in a great number of concepts and principles presented in a stimulating style that invites to think across disciplinary borders, integrating knowledge of varying areas in an explicit holistic picture. We feel that it is appropriate and desirable to recognize work of this standing and to let Prof. Oldeman know that his contributions, pioneering role and integrity have been appreciated. We are sure that many people want to say “thank you, Prof. Oldeman, for what you have daringly done”. We propose to do this by means of original essays or graphic work reflecting his work in today’s undertakings of you, former students and colleagues in different parts of the world. In the coming months your contributions will be integrated in a book in the form of a “liber amicorum”, which will be handed over to Prof. Oldeman at the occasion of his retirement. As you are a special person to Prof. Oldeman, we invite you, ex- student, colleague or ex-colleague to participate and to write and send us an essay before the first of August (details are specified below) that somehow reflects Prof Oldeman´s contributions to your own work, and/or to contribute to the printing of this work through a gift of 100 euro. […] We did as little editing as possible in order to maintain spontaneity and originality. There was no such thing as a peer review! A very preliminary version of the texts was presented with heart warming results on the day of Prof. Oldeman’s retirement. Since then some more contributions were received and included. We thank all contributors, and greatly appreciate Sofia Carballo for her excelent job in organizing the text and the figures and giving this liber amicorum its layout. The editors who gave permission to use copyrighted figures are acknowledged in the separate texts. Chetumal, Campeche, Wageningen, September 26, 2003 Hans Vester Hans van der Wal Paul Romeijn 4 Preface Professor Roelof A.A. Oldeman: From Roots to Canopy In the summer of 1985, I met Professor Oldeman for the first time. As a newly appointed professor of ecology at the University of Nijmegen, I intended to carry out research into the adaptive responses of plants growing under flooded conditions. In waterlogged soil, it is the roots of the plants that first experience flooding condi- tions, and I was interested in studying root systems of plants growing in flooded soils. I had read about Professor Oldeman and his team, who were able to study roots growing under natural conditions at the Agricultural University of Wageningen. I clearly remember our first meeting. An impressive man dressed in a three-piece suit, Professor Oldeman was sitting behind a heavily laden desk, smoking a pleasantly aromatic pipe. I told him the purpose of my visit, and it was at that moment that he became my teacher. With great enthusiasm he invited me to the greenhouses of his institute at Wageningen, where he showed me his root boxes in which saplings of various tropical trees were growing. His stimulating explanation of experimentally perforated soil systems, and the opportunity to observe the growth of tiny roots by means of an intrascope, formed the starting point of our sustainable collaboration. In fact, I myself experienced only a mere glimmer of his teaching capacities. One meeting is all it takes for Professor Oldeman to impress his audience with his willingness to share his knowledge about all aspects of tropical forests. Professor Oldeman is a marvellous teacher, expertly guiding his students to their Master’s or Doctor’s degrees. Many of our meetings took place at his home, mostly in his beautiful garden. The hospitality of his wife Wil was heart-warming. Her fortifying cups of tea accompanied by pastries, cakes and tarts, transformed many discus- sions and exhausting debates into joyful gatherings. Professor Oldeman studied tropical silviculture at Wageningen University, after which he went on to Montpellier, France to work on his doctoral thesis. In 1972, he passed his examinations with the highest honours. He then became Docteur des Sciences Naturelles, which entailed a research period of seven years. As early as 1977, he was appointed full professor of silviculture at Wageningen University. In 1986, his professorship was extended to silviculture and forest ecology. He specialised in research on tropical rain forest ecology, and has been a member of many advisory boards all over the world. He was the founder and chief of the Forest Botany Section of the Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer in French Guyana, and served as Maître de Recherches Principal at that office. He was also appointed Professeur associé en Ecologie forestière tropicale at Montpellier University. He has travelled around the globe studying tropical forests, teaching, and giving seminars, and he has been invited to appear as the keynote speaker at numerous congresses and symposia. He has organised many workshops and is able to translate complicated scientific theories on tropical systems, for example the architecture of trees in rain forests, into fascinating stories that a lay audience can understand. He has also appeared in television programmes on ecology, natural habitats, nature conservation, and popular science. All in all, Professor Oldeman has become a very respected and distinguished guest at many meetings where questions about processes in (sub-)tropical areas are discussed. PhD students from all over the world have been supervised by Professor Oldeman. Many of his students come from Indonesia, a country that has his special interest. His laboratory became a melting pot of pupils from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. He speaks six languages fluently and manages to make himself understood in many others. This, together with his wife’s open-hearted hospitality, makes the students feel at home when they study in his laboratory. 5 Professor Oldeman’s work on tropical forest canopy is famous all over the world. He has studied the architec- ture and inhabitants of this ecosystem, with special emphasis on the phyllosphere. His publications on this environment, in which he describes the occurring epiphytes and Arthropods, are among the most frequently cited papers in the literature on tropical systems. In 1989, Professor Oldeman was the initiator and one of the founders of the Tropical Rain Forest Canopy Foundation (Stichting Het Kronendak). He serves as the chair- man of this foundation, which aims to support the study of the ecological processes occurring at the tops of trees in the tropical rain forest. The Foundation is also responsible for securing funds for continuing research into these ecosystems, and for canopy farming using sustainable methods. Professor Oldeman has succeeded in building a strong organisation. He chairs the foundation with the great enthusiasm and expert knowledge that are so typical of him. Without a doubt, Professor Oldeman is an excellent scholar who possesses an admirable personality that stimulates so many scientists all over the world. His work has proved to be very important for tropical silviculture, canopy studies, and ecology in general. The scientific community all over the world is forever in his debt. Prof. Dr. C.W.P.M. Blom Rector Magnificus Radboud University Nijmegen The Netherlands 6 Roel-lof Willem Beekman schrijver, bioloog, voormalig medewerker Vakgroep Ecologische Landbouw, 1990 – 2000. Hoveniersweg 69, 4001 HS Tiel Niemand draagt zijn titel van professor met meer waardigheid dan Oldeman. Het eenvoudig uitspreken van zijn voornaam, zo makkelijk gedaan bij politici en schrijvers, kost mij meer dan normale moeite.