Gary was one of five researchers who died when their boat sank. UCD postgraduate researcher Michael Rose and three Japanese visiting researchers from Kyoto University: mathematical ecologist Masahiko Higashi, and ecologists Takuya Abe and Shigeru Nakano also perished.

Four other people on the boat swam to safety on a nearby island. The group, led by Polis, was on a routine expedition financed by the Earthwatch Institute to study lizards, spiders and other predators on the sea's islands.

Gary and members of his research team will be sorely missed by their students, friends and colleagues.

Additional information may be found at:

http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/newsreleases/03.00/news_garypolis.html
http://ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp/newsj.html
http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/accidentnews/