Bernd Gerken

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Bernd Ludwig Gerken (born January 24, 1949 ) is a German chemist, forest zoologist, ecologist and conservationist.

Education

Bernd Gerken studied natural sciences at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg / Brsg. and first of all chemistry. In 1974 he graduated from Hans Achenbach as a chemist, and received his doctorate in 1978 from Jean-Pierre Vité with a forest zoological dissertation on " Juvenile hormone analogues in bark beetles (Scolytidae)".

Research and conservation practice

After receiving his doctorate, Gerken carried out research as an ecologist at the Chair of Geobotany at the University of Freiburg with Otti Wilmanns , at the Federal Research Institute for Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology (among others with Werner Trautmann, BFANL) and at the State Institute for Environmental Protection, Institute for Ecology - with Helmut Schönnamsgruber and Sabine Görs. During his vegetation studies in the Rhine meadows, Gerken received various lessons from Gerhard Hügin and worked with him. In Freiburg, he was significantly involved in the pilot study led by Otti Wilmanns for the basics of a state-wide biotope mapping of Baden-Württemberg, where he succeeded in including dragonflies as one of the few animal groups in the mapping. His tasks also included mapping tasks in the floodplains of the Rhine between Neuchâtel and Karlsruhe (BFANL) and wetlands in Upper Swabia ( Ravensburg district , LfU-IÖN), etc. a. on birds and large butterflies.

In 1983, Bernd Gerken was offered a professorship for General Biology and Applied Animal Ecology at the University of Paderborn , Höxter Department , in the Land Care course at the time (which was later renamed Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning).

In continuation of his work in the Black Forest (there around 1980, including a project to rewet the Eschengrundmoos ), Gerken in Höxter devoted himself to corresponding work in the moor areas of the Solling (dragonflies of the Mecklenbruch moor) and the Eggegebirge (dragonflies, among others), there v. a. with faunistic-ecological surveys on rewetting of the Black Quarry. In the further course he devoted himself to the field of cultural landscape maintenance in agricultural areas (land consolidation), in particular the documentation of the condition, maintenance and development of grasslands .

As in Freiburg, Gerken continued his research in the field of floodplain ecology, whereby he was able to expand his work to several European floodplain areas. The southern Upper Rhine , the Durance in the south-east of France, Allier and Theiss have been and are intensively researched. Gerken's alluvial ecological research resulted, among other things, in a long-term documentation of the condition of alluvial areas on the Oberweser , which was largely funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and which were tested and developed in measures to revitalize selected areas ( E&E project Oberweserniederung; inter alia Gerken & Dörfer 2002). A project initiated by an expert report to revitalize Altenau by the later head of Riverwatch Vienna, Dipl.-Ing. Ulrich Eichelmann, was successfully completed after 27 years in 2017 (execution with the substantial participation of the WOL and all relevant authorities and associations in East Westphalia).

Gerken was one of the main initiators of the Hutewald project in the Solling-Vogler Nature Park , which was carried out as an E&E project at the Höxter university department until 2006 (Gerken, Wagner, Sonnenburg 2004). Since then it has been continued under the aegis of the Lower Saxony State Forests and the Solling-Vogler Nature Park. Since then, the original project area has been expanded, the project has been expanded to include additional areas in the valleys and moorland areas of the Solling, and other grazing animal breeds have been included. The project serves the continuation of typical Hutewald structures and their communities, both naturally and in the man-made cultural landscape, form a decisive basis for European biodiversity ("Hutewald Paradox") l. The project impressively shows the outstanding importance of large grazing animals in the formation, population and development of European and ultimately worldwide biodiversity.

Among other things, Gerken belongs to a generation of ecologists who oppose static perceptions of vegetation, as it is associated with the concept of potential natural vegetation . In his opinion, the forest in Europe has not been closed over large areas since the Ice Age (e.g. as a red beech primeval forest), but formed a tree savannah in large parts, which was kept open by large grazing animals - and humans participated in it early on. From this landscape structure, the biodiversity that was documented in Central Europe between 1850 and 1950 can be directly derived - namely the biodiversity that we are trying to preserve in our nature conservation efforts to this day. He also takes the view that humans belong in the structure of all living beings and should not be misunderstood as evolutionary aberrations. Earthly nature has been developing into a striking diversity of life forms and ecosystems for 4 billion years. People should therefore recognize that it is up to every form of life on earth to integrate into a whole instead of striving for one-sided dominance. People have the task of coordinating their interventions in the ecosystems with them, instead of wanting to dominate them, as happens, for example, through monotonizing and poison-accompanied intensive agriculture and also through forestry that still relies on wood farming and insecticides (also in 2019 and in 2020 it will still be considered acceptable to use pesticides in the forest in order to preserve "forest forests" with wood species grown outside the location). Rather, on all areas used by humans, it is important to allow nature to give direction.

Cooperation partners are resp. were authorities and associations in Baden (-Wuerttemberg) a. a. LfU Karlsruhe, cities like u. a. Höxter, Holzminden, offices such as u. a. WSA Oberweser, Reg.-Bez.Detmold, the former LÖLBF Recklinghausen, ministries in Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Bonn, the BfN Bad Godesberg and EU as well as associations such as BLVNN Freiburg, BUND, NABU Kreis Höxter, Lottostiftung, NuKLA.

Private initiatives and association activities

From 2002 Gerken designed the "Center for Ecology and Health - Haliotis" in Portugal , which has been a focus of activity since 2006. Since then he has been involved in setting up the “Garden of Europe” educational network. Since 2011 internships on permaculture in stepped landscapes have been carried out there almost every year , whereby external ecological issues are also considered.

His special interests are communities and species groups of animals in interaction with vegetation, spatial structure, natural dynamics and cultural influence. Large mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles as well as insects (including bark beetles , wood and droppings, ground beetles , dragonflies, butterflies and moths) are groups of animals that Gerken researches.

Bernd Gerken already began to co-found and develop associations in the field of applied ecology, theoretical and practical nature conservation in Freiburg (Campaign Environmental Protection Freiburg, AGN Freiburg - Nature Conservation Basics and Practice (1976), GdO - Dragonfly Studies, later the Animal Ecology Association (Höxter 1987) and was temporarily chairman of the NABU district association Höxter).

From 1981 until today he has been organizing specialist conferences and international symposia (including on moor ecology / DGMT, dragonfly ecology / GdO, pasture landscape ecology / Solling-Vogler Nature Park, on EIA (with EIA Association, etc.) and with a focus on floodplain ecology and river science (with BfN, AAT Jena, NuKLA eV Leipzig), which has since resulted in several conference volumes and publications in the Species Protection Report (Jena). He is also a lecturer on the results of his research in Portugal and on the topics of "floodplains in Europe", "pasture landscapes for biodiversity" and "species protection" as well as "Permaculture for steppe landscape" known.

According to his own description, Gerken has been a "wanderer between the worlds" or "traveling ecologist" since 2003, who has been commuting "over the course of the year through Central and Western Europe as well as Brazil and Paraguay to seminars, lectures, hikes, family and friends meetings and exhibitions" - and occasionally presented drawings and paintings for the latter ("painting and drawing according to nature", exhibitions in Höxter, Lagoa (P), Messines (P), Königstein / Ts, several calendars and so far two books).

As of 2017, Gerken will be the founding director of the "Saxon Aueninstitut für Mitteldeutschland", renamed in 2019 to "Aueninstitut für Lebendige Rüsse, Leipzig", which was set up by the association Natur und Kunst Leipziger Auenwald eV, Leipzig. His tasks there include contributions to the protection and comprehensive revitalization of the Leipzig riparian forest, in particular the white Elster , Pleiße , Parthe and Luppe waters that feed the riparian forest , and the organization of training and information events.

Gerken has been involved in external ecological project work on behalf of Riverwatch, Vienna, since 2017. B. to protect the wild river Vjosa (Albania), whose floodplain habitats would be severely impaired by a planned dam project.

Literature (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prof. Dr. Bernd Gerken. on: xing.com
  2. ^ Obituary by Gerhard Hügin. (PDF) Min. Bad. Landesver., Naturkunde u. Conservation, accessed June 12, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Klaus Sternberg, Rainer Buchwald : 20 years of the "Protection Community Libellen in Baden-Württemberg" from the first beginnings to the basic work and the founding of the association. In: sglibellen.de , accessed on January 30, 2017 (PDF).
  4. ^ Lower Saxony State Forests (NLF). Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, accessed on June 13, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Solling-Vogler Nature Park. Retrieved June 13, 2020 .
  6. ^ The hat forest project in the Solling-Vogler Nature Park ( Memento from March 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ; PDF)
  7. ↑ Bernd Gerken (Ed.): Where did animals and plants live in the natural landscape and the early cultural landscape in Europe? Höxter 1996.
  8. ↑ Beate Jessel (Ed.): Wilderness - a new model? Run 1997.
  9. ↑ Website and blog about "Haliotis Permaculture - Place for Permaculture, Natural History and Health" In: haliotisport.wordpress.com , accessed on January 30, 2017.
  10. ↑ Picture in mind: paintings and sketches tell stories, accessed on April 2, 2018.
  11. ↑ Announcement on the foundation of the NuKLA: accessed on July 29, 2018
  12. ↑ website NuKLA; accessed on July 29, 2018
  13. ^ Report on the Vjosa Dam Project; accessed on July 29, 2018
  14. ↑ Enilda Shkëmbi, Bernd Gerken, Bledar Pepa, Hajdar Kiçaj, Kastriot Misja & Anila Paparisto (2018): Contribution to the knowledge of Odonata from Vjosa catchment. - Acta ZooBot Austria 155, 2018, 239–250; Including using: Report on Gerken's Vjosa terrain surveys; accessed on July 29, 2018

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personal data
SURNAME Gerken, Bernd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerken, Bernd Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ecologist and conservationist
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1949