Bernhard Ulrich (forest scientist)

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Bernhard Ulrich (born March 17, 1926 in Herrenberg ; † October 14, 2015 in Bösinghausen near Göttingen) was a German forest scientist , soil scientist and ecosystem researcher . With his research in the Solling project , he did pioneering work in the field of terrestrial ecosystem research in Germany. On the basis of the results of the substance balance measurements that he carried out in the Solling, Ulrich was the first scientist to warn in 1979 of the impending dying of forests due to man-made air pollution and was thus significantly involved in triggering the forest dying debate that took place in the Federal Republic in the 1980s was conducted intensively.

Life path

Ulrich grew up in Herrenberg , a Swabian town near Stuttgart. After the end of the Second World War , in which he only participated briefly, he studied agriculture at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart-Hohenheim , where he obtained his doctorate from 1950 to 1953. agr. In 1953 he became assistant to the renowned soil scientist Fritz Scheffer at the Institute for Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science of the Agricultural Faculty of the University of Göttingen . In 1960 he completed his habilitation. In 1962 Ulrich switched to the forestry faculty of the University of Göttingen and became assistant to the forestry soil scientist Walter Wittich . In 1965 he took over his chair and head of the Institute for Forest Soil Science and Forest Nutrition. From 1984 to 1991 he was managing director of the research center for forest dieback / forest ecosystems (renamed research center for forest ecosystems in 1987). In 1991 he retired. He lived in Bösinghausen near Göttingen. Ulrich died on October 14, 2015 at the age of 89.

Solling project and debate about the dying forest

The so-called Solling project was a large interdisciplinary ecosystem research project that was located in the German low mountain range Solling. It initially ran from 1966 to 1973, but individual projects and series of measurements were continued well beyond this period. In this project, Ulrich coordinated the investigation of the abiotic effects on the ecosystem and carried out state-of-the-art material balance measurements.

In doing so, he came to the conclusion that even in the Solling, which was considered to be relatively unaffected, large amounts of humanly caused air pollution such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are entered. Based on his measurements, in 1979 he made the prognosis that large areas of forests in Germany will die off in the next few years.

Other scientists such as forest scientist Peter Schütt and the mass media quickly took up Ulrich's warnings. A cover story in the Spiegel in November 1981 ensured that the topic, which has meanwhile been called forest dieback , was widely discussed in public. In this article, Ulrich was quoted as saying that the first large forests will die out in five years. Ulrich was one of the most prominent and sought-after scientific experts in the forest dying debate in the 1980s and repeatedly spoke out in favor of better air pollution control and improved environmental protection.

Today it is controversial to what extent the scientific warnings about forest dieback were justified. Some commentators accuse the scientists of unnecessarily fueling fears with their warnings about forest dieback. But there are also voices that show respect for Ulrich's committed appearance in the forest dying debate and his commitment to improving environmental protection; this is also expressed in the multiple honors and awards that Ulrich received. In 2015 he said of the forest dying debate of the 1980s: "The volume of the media shouldn't have been so great." But he was "always down to the facts."

honors and awards

Ulrich has received honors for his scientific achievements and his commitment to environmental policy from various sides. In 1988 he received the Marcus Wallenberg Prize and the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class, and in 1991 the Lower Saxony Prize . He was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1987 by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and in 1994 by the TU Dresden .

In 1982 Ulrich received the GEO environmental award, and in 1990 the Golden Badge of Honor from the German Forest Protection Association . The German Federal Environment Foundation awarded him the German Environment Prize in 1997 ; With the prize money he donated a Göttingen Prize for Forest Ecosystem Research. The German Soil Science Society made him an honorary member.

selected Writings

  • Rapid determination of the cation sorption capacity and contributions to its application in soil investigation and soil genetics. Dissertation . Agricultural University, Hohenheim 1953.
  • Soil and plants: their interrelationships from a physical-chemical perspective . Extended habilitation thesis . Goettingen 1961.
  • B. Ulrich, R. Mayer, PK Khanna: Deposition of air pollution and its effects in forest ecosystems in Solling. (= Writings from the Forest Faculty of the University of Göttingen and Lower Saxony Forest Research Institute, Volume 58). Sauerländer's, Frankfurt am Main 1979.
  • The forests of Central Europe: measurement results of their environmental pollution, theory of their endangerment, prognosis of their development. In: Allgemeine Forstzeitschrift. 35 (44), 1980, pp. 1198-1202.
  • Pollution and resilience of forest ecosystems with air pollution. In: General forest and hunting newspaper. 154 (4/5), 1983, pp. 76-82.
  • Process Hierarchy in Forest Ecosystems: An Integrative Ecosystem Theory. In: DL Godbold, A. Hüttermann (Ed.): Effects of acid rain on forest processes. Wiley-Liss, New York et al. a. 1994, pp. 353-398.
  • The history and possible causes of forest decline in central Europe, with particular attention to the German situation. In: Environmental Reviews. 3 (3/4), 1995, pp. 262-276.

literature

  • W. Kramer: Professor Bernhard Ulrich is 60 years old. In: The forest and wood host. 41 (5), 1986, pp. 127-128.
  • HA Gussone: Professor Ulrich retires. In: Forest and Wood. 46 (21), 1991, pp. 608-609.
  • G. Wiedey, F. Beese: On the 80th birthday of Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. Bernhard Ulrich: A successful tradition of forest ecosystem research at the University of Göttingen. In: Forest Archive. 77 (3), 2006, pp. 83-84.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ University journal of the Technical University of Dresden. Issue 18/2015, p. 6 (PDF)
  2. ^ Bernhard Pötter : 35 years of forest dieback. Hysteria helps. taz. 28/29 March 2015, p. 31.
  3. ↑ Discoverer of forest death: Bernhard Ulrich dead. In: hna.de. Hessische / Niedersächsische Allgemeine , October 22, 2015, accessed on October 23, 2015.
  4. ↑ see on the organization of the Solling project H. Ellenberg, R. Mayer, J. Schauermann (Eds.): Ecosystem Research: Results of the Solling Project. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1986, chapter 1.4.
  5. ↑ B. Ulrich, R. Mayer, PK Khanna: Deposition of air pollution and its effects on forest ecosystems in Solling . Sauerländer's, Frankfurt am Main 1979, Chapter 5.
  6. ↑ R. Schäfer, B. Metzger: What does forest dieback actually do? In: P. Masius et al. (Ed.): Environmental history and environmental future: On the social relevance of a young discipline. Universitätsverlag Göttingen, Göttingen 2009, pp. 201–227 (also available online (PDF; 4.3 MB))
  7. ↑ see e.g. BH Horeis: Bury the forest dieback! In: Novo. Issue 79, Nov./Dec. 2005, pp. 16-18. (online) ; G. Keil: Chronicle of a Panic. In: The time. December 9, 2004 (online)
  8. ↑ H. Faller: In the next few years, large areas of forests in Germany will die off. In: The time. January 8, 2004. (online) ; H. Gersmann: Then you better keep your mouth shut. In: taz. September 27, 2008, pp. 10-11. (on-line)
  9. ↑ taz. 28/29 March 2015, p. 31.
  10. ↑ Honorary doctoral students of the TH / TU Dresden. Technical University of Dresden, accessed on January 29, 2015 .
  11. ↑ wwwuser.gwdg.de
personal data
SURNAME Ulrich, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German forest scientist, soil scientist and ecosystem researcher
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Herrenberg , German Empire
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 2015
Place of death Bösinghausen near Göttingen