The OTS community is saddened by the passing of Professor William Bond, a global leader in savanna and fynbos ecology and key supporter of OTS in South Africa. As part of the team of South African academics facilitating OTS’ arrival in South Africa, William was instrumental in the establishment and success of the OTS African Ecology and Conservation course. He has taught on many of our semester programs, provided significant input and support of our long-term research, and mentored numerous OTS alumni as his graduate students.
Through his groundbreaking work on the importance of disturbance in grassy and Mediterranean-type ecosystems, he fundamentally altered international understanding of the importance of fire and herbivory on the ecology and distribution of global ecosystems. He published his magnum opus, “Open Ecosystems: ecology and evolution beyond the forest edge,” to describe ecosystems that exist because of disturbance in exploring alternative ecosystem states, challenging some of the fundamental global rules of biome distribution. In the applied sciences, William and colleagues challenged the belief that planting trees is a universal solution to climate and biodiversity crises. He showed that many landscapes targeted for tree-based restoration are ancient grasslands and savannas, shaped by fire, herbivory, and evolutionary history, not degraded forests. Open ecosystems are stable, biodiverse systems in their own right, and William warned that indiscriminate tree planting can damage biodiversity, reduce water availability, and overlook major soil carbon stores. This has led to a far more inclusive, nuanced and locally relevant understanding of restoration and policy improvements across all biomes.
In recognition of his extraordinary global impact, he was inducted as a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, and in 2013, as a foreign associate of the National Science Foundation, one of only a few African scientists to receive this honor. In 2021, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society, the world’s oldest scientific academy, in acknowledgement of his global influence.
However, it is for his mentorship and humanity that he will be best remembered. An prolific academic, he mentored a significant number of graduate students. Many of whom have gone on to become leaders in savanna ecology and conservation. Over the last three decades, he established a global of collaborators, creating research networks across the Americas, Europe and Australasia. During the period of great political and social transition in the 1990s in South Africa, William sought to collaborate with scientists from historically black universities, creating long lasting partnerships and friendships to this day.
An exacting scientist and generous collaborator, he is survived by his wife and three children and he will be remembered as a great friend of OTS.
Photos: Laurence Kruger