Kenneth A. Kershaw

Kenneth A. Kershaw (1930–2019) was a botanist and lichenologist, especially studying lichen ecophysiology. He started his career at Imperial College, University of London and was then appointed to the chair in plant ecology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He developed improved experimental equipment and applied numerical methods to the study of lichen ecophysiology. He also became an expert on early Canadian maps and stamps.

Early life, education and personal life Kenneth Andrew Kershaw was born in Lancashire and brought up in Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

He married Ellen Catherine Bruce on 1 April 1967 and they had three children together.

Career Kershaw obtained lectureship in botany at Imperial College, University of London around 1957. Ken and John Tallis published papers on stone polygons in Nature in 1959. In a 1975 expedition to Hudson Bay Lowlands. During the expedition they went on a mini expedition to a forest tundra area to the south, Kershaw and his team were chased by a polar bear. Kershaw retired in 1988.

After retirement, he had a business selling old maps and prints, and gained recognition for expertise in early Canadian maps and stamps. He was also involved in a family restaurant business.

Publications Kershaw was the author of popular book about lichens and books on early Canadian maps and stamps in addition to scientific publications and monographs. These included:

Kenneth A. Kershaw (1993, 1996, 2002) Early Printed Maps of Canada in four volumes (1540-1703, 1703 - 1799, regions of Canada).

Kenneth A. Kershaw and John Henry H. Looney (1985) Quantitative and dynamic plant ecology London : Edward Arnold; 1985.

Kershaw KA (1985) Physiological Ecology of Lichens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

MacFarlane JD and Kershaw KA (1978) Thermal sensitivity in lichens. Science 201 739–741.

Larson DW and Kershaw KA (1975) Acclimation in arctic lichens. Nature 254 421–423.

Kershaw KA and Rouse WR (1971) Studies on lichen-dominated systems. I. The water relations of Cladonia alpestris in spruce-lichen woodland in northern Ontario. Canadian Journal of Botany 49 1389–1399.

Kenneth A. Kershaw (1966) Quantitative and dynamic plant ecology London : Edward Arnold; (Second edition 1985 with John Henry H. Looney)'

K.A. Kershaw and K.L. Alvin (1963) The Observer’s Book of Lichens, Frederick Warne

Tallis JH and Kershaw KA (1959) Stability of stone polygons in North Wales. Nature 183 485–486.

He was the line-drawing illustrator of two books by Ursula Duncan, Lichen Illustrations (1963), Supplement to “A Guide to the Study of Lichens”. Arbroath: T. Buncle & Co Ltd. and Introduction to British Lichens (1970) Arbroath: T. Buncle & Co Ltd.

Honours and awards Kershaw was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1980.