Dietmar Todt

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Dietmar Todt (born April 4, 1935 in Castrop-Rauxel ) is a German zoologist specializing in behavioral biology and biocommunication . From 1975 he was head of the Institute for Behavioral Biology at the Free University of Berlin . He has been retired since 2003.

Life

Dietmar Todt studied biology at the Universities of Marburg and Tübingen . He completed his bio-cybernetic studies in Tübingen with a doctorate in botany (1962) and a habilitation in zoology at the University of Freiburg (1970). Central aspects of his cumulative habilitation on the topic of controlling bird song were published in the communications of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina .

He was co-organizer of the International Congress of Neuroethology in Berlin in 1989, and co-editor of the journals Behavior and Animal Cognition. As a co-founder of the international dolphin research center (Dolphin Reef / Israel), which he headed from 1994 to 2004, he particularly focused on human-animal communication.

Dietmar Todt has two sons from his marriage to Waltraut Todt (†).

Act

Biocommunication is a key focus of Todt's behavioral research. Under the influence of cybernetic models of thought, as part of his habilitation, he examined the singing organization of the blackbird (Turdus merula), which produces its vocal patterns (stanzas) in a non-random way, i.e. by no means sings a fixed sequence in a completely stereotypical manner. The song of the blackbirds (male blackbirds) varies not only on the basis of internal control programs of the individual, but also under the influence of other singing conspecifics. Todt and his research group at the Free University of Berlin demonstrated the same for other bird species such as the nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) and the common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus). In addition, the control of song in duet bird species such as the East African smear thrush and the East African grass warbler (Cisticola hunteri prinioides) was examined.

Precise evaluations and bioacoustic experiments were made possible by the sonagraph , which was used in science from the 1950s and placed the analysis of vocal patterns on a new basis, as well as computer programs for evaluating large and complex amounts of data. Both together made it possible, among other things, to track down song learning in the nightingale and to differentiate between innate and acquired parameters.

As part of biocommunicative studies, the behavioral research group Todt carried out sound analyzes of primates ( Barbary macaque , humans) and increasingly various aspects of the evolutionary development of signs and their use in concrete situations.

In addition, the Todt research group investigated questions of inter-species communication and in particular the psychotherapeutic function of swimming with dolphins including the ultrasound communication of these highly developed mammals. After his retirement, Todt devoted himself increasingly to nature conservation.

Fonts (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dietmar Todt, Biological-Cybernetic Analysis of the Composition of the Song of Different Birds , 1973, Nova Acta Leopoldina, Volume 37/2, No. 203, pp. 311–331
  2. ^ Past ISN Meetings. In: neuroethology.org. 1989, accessed May 4, 2020 .
  3. ^ Animal Cognition. Retrieved May 6, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Dietmar Todt: The antiphonical pair songs of the East African grass singer Cisticola hunteri prinioides Neumann . In: Journal of Ornithology . tape 111 , 1970, pp. 332-356 .
  5. ↑ Dietmar Todt: Indicative character and intermediary functions of behavior . In: Journal of Semiotics . tape 8/3 , p. 183 .
  6. ↑ Karsten Brensing, Katrin Linke, Dietmar Todt: Can dolphins heal by ultrasound? In: Journal of Theoretical Biology . tape 225 , 2003, pp. 99-105 .
personal data
SURNAME Todt, Dietmar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Castrop-Rauxel