University of California, Los Angeles (U C L A), Department of Geography

P. O. Box 951524, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1524, USA

My principal interest is currently focused on the interface between biogeography and conservation biology. This has led me to the deconstruction of traditional island biogeography and to a forward-looking approach that integrates advances in landscape ecology, phylogeography, ecosystem management, and conservation biology. This was achieved through a focus on the geographic place (see development of the eigenplace concept in J. Biogeography 31). In teaching, I prefer field-based and problem-solving courses. My annual spring course provides a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in field techniques and interdisciplinary research approaches.

Island biogeography and the insular-continental polarity concept interest me as well as regional and latitudinal dissimilarities of faunal ensembles. New models on continental biogeography and global change are in the works. Urgently needed are regional studies of biogeographic places and landscapes (by county, watershed, small country) as well as paradigm-challenging theses.

I am interested in prospective Ph.D. students who have a good background in biogeography and are strong in theory as well as in field studies. Island biogeography, invasive species areography, and conservation science (the nature-society interface) offer research opportunities. The University of California Natural Reserve System supports over 30 field stations for inexpensive field-based investigations. Also, there is undisturbed chaparral within 20 minutes of UCLA and a huge urban-wildland interface from coastal islands to inland deserts within a radius of 60 miles from UCLA.

Biogeography. Classical and progressive biogeography. Regional biodiversity patterns and dynamics; areographic analysis of invading and declining species; functional insular and continental biogeography. Current projects: Functional continentality analysis of vertebrates; comparison of insular and continental biodiversity; application of biogeographic theory to global change and species conservation issues (Sierra Nevada, Salton Sea); background studies of invasive species in their original distribution areas in Italy.

Ornithology. Raptor ecology and conservation; structure and function of bird populations and communities. Current projects: Ecology of endemic taxa of the California Channel Islands; changing bird distributions due to global warming and human landscape modification.

Environmental Studies. Applications of ecosystem analysis. Current projects: Negative impacts of globalization on the African environment; nature conservation issues in California and in selected European countries; education issues of natural history.

Professor, Department of Geography, UCLA, since 1972. Full Professor since 1980.

Visiting Professor of Geography, University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, 1999.

Visiting Professor of Geography, University of Heidelberg, Germany, 1989.

Associate Regional Expert in Ecology and Conservation for Africa, UNESCO, Field Science Office for Africa (Nairobi), 1970-71.

Lecturer, Department of Geography, UC Berkeley, 1969.

1968/69 Postdoctoral (Harkness Fellow), Department of Geography, University of Chicago.

1960 University of Bonn. Major: zoology; minors: botany, geography.

Islands, California, Mexico, Mediterranean, Central Europe, East and South Africa.

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Institute of Biological Sciences

American Ornithologists’ Union

Association of American Geographers

Association of Pacific Coast Geographers

Cooper Ornithological Society

Fauna & Flora International

Raptor Research Foundation

Society for Conservation Biology

Ganster, P. and H. Walter (eds.). 1990. Environmental hazards and bioresource management in the United States-Mexico borderlands. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center. 483 pp.

Walter, H. 1979. Eleonora's falcon: adaptations to prey and habitat in a social raptor. Wildlife Behavior and Ecology Series. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 410 pp. [Winner of the 1982 Wildlife Publication Award of The Wildlife Society]

Walter, H. S. 2004. The mismeasure of islands: implications for biogeographic theory and the conservation of nature. Journal of Biogeography 31: 1-21.

Walter, H. S. 2003. Biogeography. In: D. Demeny and G. McNicoll (eds.). Encyclopedia of Population, pp. 87-88. Macmillan Reference USA, New York.

Walter, H. S. and L. A. Taha. 2000. Regeneration of Bishop pine (Pinus muricata) in the absence and presence of fire: a case study from Santa Cruz Island, California. In: D. R. Brown, K. L. Mitchell, and H. W. Chaney (eds.). Proceedings of the 5th California Islands Symposium (29 March to 1 April 1999, Santa Barbara, California), pp. 171-181.U. S. Dept. Interior, Mineral Management Service (OCS Study MMS 99-0038).

Walter, H. S. 2000. Stability and change in the bird communities of the Channel Islands. In: D. R. Brown, K. L. Mitchell, and H. W. Chaney (eds.). Proceedings of the 5th California Islands Symposium (29 March to 1 April 1999, Santa Barbara, California), pp. 307-314. U. S. Dept. Interior, Mineral Management Service (OCS Study MMS 99-0038).

Walter, H. S. 1998. Driving forces of island biodiversity: an appraisal of two theories. Physical Geography 19: 351-377.

Walter, H. S. 1998. Land use conflicts in California. In: P. W. Rundel, G. Montenegro, and F. Jaksic (eds.), Landscape Degradation in Mediterranean-type Ecosystems, pp.107-126. Ecological Studies 136. Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg.