Barbara König (biologist)

Barbara König (* 1955 in Saarbrücken ) is a German zoologist and behavioral scientist. König is Professor of Zoology at the Institute for Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Zurich .

König studied biology at the University of Konstanz from 1974, graduating in 1979. She then went to Monash University in Melbourne and received her doctorate in 1985 in Konstanz. She was a post-doctoral student at the University of Basel . In 1995 she completed her habilitation in Würzburg, received a Heisenberg grant in 1996 and was at the University of Zurich from 1996.

She studies the social behavior of mammals and especially the development of cooperative behavior in evolution. In particular, she investigated the behavior of “wild” house mice and the joint rearing of young females, and in comparison, the behavior of African welted grass mice. She found evidence of genes that cause selfish behavior (t-haplotype of chromosome 17). She also researches human-pet relationships, animal welfare and nature conservation issues, for example based on studies of lions and leopards in Botswana .

In 2003/04 she was President of the German Zoological Society .

Works

• The brood care strategy of the mother mouse (Mus musculus). Parent-offspring conflict, tolerance of unfamiliar boys and reaction to food shortages. Thesis, University of Konstanz, 1985 (dissertation). DNB 881095796
• Douglas J. Futuyma: Evolutionary Biology. Translated from English and edited by Barbara König. Birkhäuser, Basel / Boston / Berlin 1990
• Biological Diversity. [Articles from "Spectrum of Science"]. Edited and provided with an introduction by Barbara König and Karl Eduard Linsenmair. Spectrum, Academic Publishing House, Heidelberg / Berlin / Oxford 1996. ISBN 3-8274-0070-8

Web links

• Prof. Dr. Barbara König on the website of the University of Zurich
• An interview with Barbara König on Spektrum.de