August Thienemann

August Friedrich Thienemann ( born September 7, 1882 in Gotha, † April 22, 1960 in Plön ) was a zoologist and ecologist. His most important works were about the ecological relationships in inland waters, due to which he is considered the founder of limnology.

Life and work

August Thienemann studied from 1901 to 1905 the natural sciences and philosophy at the universities of Greifswald, Innsbruck and Heidelberg. His doctorate, he finished in Heidelberg with Robert Lauterborn.

From 1907 Thienemann was then head of the Biological Department of Fisheries and wastewater issues at the Zoological Institute of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, where he conducted his famous research on the lakes of the Eifel. As a result of these studies he constructed the theory of different types of lakes and explained the dependence of the water- living organisms ( in his case midge larvae of the genera Chrironomus and Tanytarsus ) of the environmental conditions in the lake. After the outbreak of World War 1, he was severely wounded in September 1914 Reims by shrapnel. After his recovery he was transferred to the military administration service in 1915. Also in 1915 he qualified on the investigation north German lakes. As a professor of zoology, he was appointed in 1917 to the University of Kiel. From 1928 to 1929 he participated in the German Limnological Sunda Expedition, provided the extensive new results of the limnology of the tropics. As head of the Hydrobiological Institute, which was an institution of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society initially and later became the Max - Planck - Institute for Limnology in Plön, he worked until his death in 1960.

Thieme 's research, particularly to the food relationships of the various groups of organisms in lakes form one of the foundations for the emergence of a modern and system- oriented ecological research at the beginning of the last century. Accordingly, there is the well-known distinction between the groups of organisms in an ecosystem producers, consumers and decomposers back to Thieme man. These concepts worked far beyond the Limnology addition.

Honors

Works and work

In his publication list a total of 459 items are called.