Rafael Yus-Ramos, of Spanish nationality, was born on March 9rd, 1952 in the village of San Juan de las Minas, near Melilla, in the province of Nador (Morocco) during the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco. From 4-17 years old he lived in Melilla (Spain), studying Elementary and Secondary School studies, finishing them in 1969. During this time, he met the famous Melilla-resident entomologist D. Anselmo Pardo Alcaide, who instructed him in the basics of entomology, and with whom he published his first scientific papers. From 1969 to 1974, he studied Biological Sciences, at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada (Spain), earning his degree in 1974. In 1975, while carrying out compulsory military service, he earned a PhD scholarship at the Experimental Centre “La Mayora” (Algarrobo, Spain), by the High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), conducting studies of entomology (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), culminating in 1977 with his Doctoral Dissertation on A taxonomic and biological study of the family Bruchidae in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands . Subsequently, he was hired as Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Granada, from 1978 to 1979. By then, he had already published a dozen articles on entomology.
In 1979, he passed a national examination to become secondary school teacher, and was appointed at Torrox (Málaga, Spain), near his family home in Vélez-Málaga (Málaga, Spain). Upon this change of scenario, he completely interrupted his research on entomology, to fully devote himself to education and the teaching of biology and geology in secondary education, until the end of his professional career as a teacher in 2012. During this first period, from 1979 to 1982, he taught at Jorge Guillén Secondary School at Torrox, and in 1982-1983 he was transferred to Reyes Católicos Secondary School in Vélez-Málaga, the year he was granted membership to Secondary School Professors, a post for which he had to undergo an examination, and he was subsequently given a post at Enrique Nieto Secondary School in Melilla (Spain), his homeland. During these early years as a teacher, he made several innovations in the field of science education and environmental education, which were published in Journals and delivered at Conferences devoted to these fields. During his two-year stay in Melilla as a professor (1983-1985), he wrote, together with Dr. José Manuel Cabo, the “Guía de la Naturaleza de la Región de Melilla ” (Nature Guide to the Region of Melilla), published by the town hall of this town. This same book was the basis for the development and publication, twenty five years later, of a 12-volume encyclopedic work entitled “Historia Natural de la Región de Melilla” (Natural History of the Region of Melilla), in which ten authors collaborated.
After this short stay in Melilla, he moved back to the province of Málaga, where he had his family home (Vélez-Málaga), with his wife Mrs. Maria Pilar Fernandez Sarraga, primary school teacher, with whom he had three sons, Álvaro, Alejandro and Clara. This time he was assigned a post at Virgen de las Angustias Secondary School in Nerja, for a year (1985-1986), a period in which he started promoting the natural values of Tejeda and Almijara Sierras, starting a promotional work of mid-upper level at the region of Axarquía, together with a team of professionals called Seminario Permanente de Ciencias Naturales de la Axarquía (Permanent Seminar of Natural Sciences of Axarquía). While at the Secondary School of Nerja, in 1986 he was elected Coordinator of the newly created Teacher Centre (Centro de Profesores, CEP) of Axarquía, an institution designed to promote innovation and teacher training at non-university levels in the region of Axarquía. In parallel he participated in “Colectivo Pedagógico de la Axarquía" (Pedagogic Collective of Axarquia), group belonging to "Movimiento de Renovación Pedagógica": MRP (Pedagogic Renewal Movement), which years later would form the association "Renovación Educativa Malagueña": REMA (Malagueña Educational Renewal). During this period, which lasted nine years (1986-1993), he carried out an intense activity in the field of teacher training, and his major contributions were collected in the book Una aproximación a la fundamentación de la Formación del Profesorado, desde la Estructura y Filosofía de los Centros de Profesores (CEPs) [An Approach to the Foundation of Teacher Training, from the Structure and Philosophy of Teacher-Training Centres]. Most of his articles, books, courses and lectures at Conferences date back to this period, which are related not only to teacher training, but also to educational innovation, the teaching of science, etc. At the end of this period, he resigned from the position of coordinator of the CEP at La Axarquía, due to discrepancies in the policy of teacher training, returning to his post as Professor of Biology and Geology at Reyes Católicos Secondary School of Vélez-Málaga (which he obtained during the period of service commission at the CEP in 1987), an institution in which he worked as teacher for Adult Education and with the position of Head of the Department of Biology and Geology, until 2012, the date of his retirement.
At the beginning of this period, he became interested in educational values, offering innovative proposals for their use within the so-called “temas transversales” (cross-cutting topics), and which were published by Editorial Graó under the title of “ Temas transversales: Hacia una nueva escuela ” (Cross-cutting topics: Towards a new school), and also in the book “Hacia una educación global desde la transversalidad” (Towards a cross-cutting global education), published by Anaya. A logical evolution of these educational approaches led him to defend an integrative form of education, known as “holistic education” in other countries, whose proposal was published by the Desclée Brouwer publishing company as “ Educación Integral: Una educación holística para el siglo XXI ” (Integral Education: A holistic education for the XXI century), in two volumes. In this period, he was very active as a lecturer at workshops and teacher training courses organized by the CEPs in Spain, as well as a lecturer at various meetings, Workshops and Conferences. From 2000, he started teaching courses, workshops and conferences in Latin America, mainly Brazil (where two of his books had been translated) and Mexico. He also worked as a foreign consultant at the Ministry of Education of Georgia (former USSR) commissioned by World Bank. This period also includes numerous articles and books related to these educational issues and he also wrote textbooks related to the innovative orientation of his conceptualization of science education, aimed at students of secondary education, published by the Elzevir Editorial. During this period, the Andalusian Government commissioned the creation of some materials to help Secondary School teachers to introduce cross-cutting topics (temas transversales) in the classroom, a collective work by several innovative teachers which was never published as such, but years later provided a platform to promote, at Reyes Católicos Secondary School in Vélez-Málaga (Spain), a project for education in values under the official programme of “ Escuela, espacio de Paz ” (School, space for peace), which allowed for the development, for the first time in Spain, of several courses with a multi-disciplinary approach to cross-cutting topics, and hence to education in values, demonstrating that, contrary to what was formerly believed, it is possible to develop programmes for education in values within secondary schools.
In parallel to this intense activity in the field of teaching and didactic issues, he followed the line of science popularisation, at a medium-high level, of the natural values (biological, geological, geographical) of the Axarquía County, through the Seminario Permanente de Ciencias Naturales de la Axarquía (Permanent Seminar of Natural Sciences of Axarquía), created in 1987 and which was in force until 2007. From this period are the naturalistic studies in different environmental scenarios of the Axarquía County in Málaga: Dorsal Bética, Corredor de Colmenar-Periana, Montes de Málaga, Macizo de Vélez, Hoya de Vélez and Litoral Oriental, together with the aforementioned studies of Tejeda and Almijara Sierras. This type of work also allowed for educational proposals (basically educational activities in the natural environment) that were published as books by the CEP of Axarquía. Furthermore, proposals for a naturalist hiking were also made across these natural areas, thus providing an opportunity to learn in depth the natural environment of the Axarquía. For this proposal, the author made a special effort in all sorts of media (radio, television, newspapers, magazines, conferences, etc.)
A special case was his encyclopedic work, since, not losing his link with the land of his birthplace, the surroundings of Melilla (northern Morocco), he also promoted an encyclopaedic naturalistic study, of 12 volumes, entitled: Historia Natural de la Región de Melilla (Guelaya, Alborán y Chafarinas) [Natural History of the Melilla Region (Guelaya, Alboran and Chafarinas)], the most complete and up-to-date naturalistic research ever written about that region. A little later, he undertook another encyclopaedic project about the most important places, from the naturalistic point of view, of the Axarquía area, gathering a voluminous treatise of 20 volumes, entitled “Historia Natural de las sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y los Acantilados de Maro” [Natural History of the Tejeda and Almijara Sierras and the cliffs of Maro], the most extensive and detailed work on the natural values of these protected areas.
On another level, in 1993, the same members of the Permanent Seminar of Natural Sciences of Axarquía , coordinated by the author, created an association called Gabinete de Estudios de la Naturaleza de la Axarquía (Cabinet for Studies of Nature in Axarquía) (GENA), to provide a social platform from which one could make complaints about environmental damage, as well as suggestions for improvement, towards sustainable development. In 2000, this association was federated in the Andalusian Federation of Ecologists in Action , to which it belongs today, with the name of GENA-Ecologists in Action, coordinated by the same author. From this platform, the author, together with his colleagues, developed an environmental activity in defence of environmental quality, biodiversity, natural habitats and overall sustainable development, which can be found in numerous articles published in various Journals (Informaciones, La Crónica, El Avance, Todo, etc.), especially the digital magazine El Observador de Málaga (The Observer of Málaga). Also under this association, he also published several books on the nature of the Axarquía, under a collaboration agreement with Centro de Desarrollo Rural (the Centre for Rural Development) (CEDER) of Axarquía and GENA-Ecologists in Action. While doing that, he was part of the Junta Rectora del Parque Natural de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama (Board of the Tejeda, Alhama and Almijara Natural Park). This activity was valued by various institutions such as the Centro de Estudios de la Axarquía (Centre for the Study of the Axarquía), which granted the association with the “Entidad Axárquica de Honor” (Honour Axarquía Entity) award. Also, the Province Council of Malaga twice awarded him the “Premio Provincial de Medio Ambiente” (County Environmental Award), etc. Of particular importance in this activity is a work on water issues, “ El agua en la Axarquía ” (water in the Axarquía), published by CEDER Axarquía, and a book on the problems of dispersed urbanism in the region: “ Urbanismo difuso en suelo rústico. Deterioro ambiental y corrupción en la provincia de Málaga ” (Diffuse urbanism on rural land. Environmental degradation and corruption in the Málaga province), another on the problem of littoralization, the concentration of real estate activity on the Axarquía coast: Turismo, mercantilización y desnaturalización del litoral de la Axarquía [Tourism, commercialization and denaturalization of the Axarquía coast], and one on the problem of excessive irrigation for subtropics in the region: La burbuja de los cultivos subtropicales y el colapso hídrico en la Axarquía [The bubble of subtropical crops and the hydric collapse in the Axarquía], which had a great impact on the media and constitute works of compulsory reading in technical and scientific studies.
Finally, there is his research activity as a specialist entomologist of the Bruchidae Coleoptera (small beetles that feed from seeds), which earned him the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences, to the end of his work at the University, in 1979, he had published a dozen articles in Spanish, French and English Journals. However, influenced by the change of scenery and professional requirements in the transition from University to Secondary Education, he completely interrupted the research on entomology, until he decided in 2006 to resume this research, under the stimulus of updating his own studies dated from 1977. The outcome of this renewed interest in entomological research was the publication (in 2014) of 71 new articles, with which he made an update on the status of knowledge of the taxonomy of Bruchidae in the Iberian Peninsula, extending it to other neighbouring territories of the Mediterranean region and with special emphasis in Morocco and Macaronesia. Precisely on these areas two monographs were published, one for the Macaronesia (published in La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain) and one for Morocco (published in Lyon, France). During this period he has studied all institutional and individual collections around the area of the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands, in addition to Morocco, the result of which has been the description of five new species, one in the Iberian area ( Bruchidius gavirai ), and the other in Central America, with his colleague Dr. Jesús Romero-Napoles (Acanthoscelides alonsoi) and three Afro-tropical (Spermophagus coelloi, S. pardoi and S. romeroi ). In this new period of research, the author tried to increase awareness of the bruchid, beyond mere taxonomic status, to delve into completely uncharted aspects of these insects such as the morphology of pre-imaginal stages, life cycle, feeding behaviour (discovering hitherto unknown host plants), reproductive behaviour, etc. Another important piece of research was focussed on the detection of alien species introduced into Europe, the result of which was the study “Alien seed beetles in Europe”, written in the DAISIE consortium of invasive fauna in Europe, published in the Journal Zootaxa . Currently the author is preparing the Bruchidae monograph for the official collection of Iberian Fauna in Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (National Museum of Natural Sciences) (CSIC) of Madrid (Spain).