Dr Surrey Jacobs, Scientist with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, passed away in late November. I had the pleasure of working with Surrey on the NSW Government Shoalhaven Environmental Flows Project in 2005-6, where as a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel he made a pivotal contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the aquatic ecology of the Shoalhaven River. The Royal Botanic Gardens will be publishing a special issue of its systematics journal Telopea in Surrey’s honour in 2010. It will include scientific papers by about 30 of his colleagues — a fitting acknowledgement of an Australian botanist who has made an outstanding contribution to knowledge of the systematics, phylogeny and ecology of the world’s waterplants, grasses and chenopods.
Bruce.