Gerd Müller-Motzfeld

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Gerd Müller-Motzfeld 2009 in Göttingen at the acceptance speech for the award of the Meigen Medal

(Werner) Gerd Müller-Motzfeld (born July 19, 1941 in Meißen ; †  July 24, 2009 in Kyrgyzstan ) was a German entomologist , ecologist and professor emeritus at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald , who was particularly active in the field of beetles ( Coleoptera) did research.

Life

Gerd Müller was born in Meißen in 1941 as the son of the flower binder and cardboard box maker Gertraud Müller (née Moser) and the cardboard box maker Fritz Werner Müller. After graduating from high school in 1959 and completing basic military service, he studied biology at the University of Greifswald from 1961 , became a research assistant there in 1966 and received his doctorate in 1971 with a thesis on the side effects of herbicides on soil arthropods under Rolf Keilbach . From 1978 to 1992 he was the curator of the Zoological Museum at the University of Greifswald and mainly dealt with the taxonomy and ecology of ground beetles (Carabidae). He completed his habilitation in 1987 in the field of zoology (then Doctorate B ), received a C3 professorship for special zoology in 1992 and was the managing director of the Zoological Institute from 1996 to 1997 and then until 2004 the spokesman for the field of biology.

Gerd Müller married Ursel Motzfeld in 1964. The marriage resulted in two daughters. To prevent confusion, he has been calling himself Müller-Motzfeld in publications since 1978. He died in July 2009 during his twelfth expedition to Central Asia in the high mountains of Kyrgyzstan .

Research and Conservation

His research areas were the taxonomy, phylogeny and zoogeography of ground beetles, especially the representatives of the genus Bembidion ( awl beetle ) in the Palearctic , the biodiversity of ground beetles in the high mountains of the Eastern Palearctic, and quantitative eco-faunistics and bioindication with ground beetles in Central Europe. Müller-Motzfeld was also involved in nature conservation and maintained the checklists and red lists of ground beetles in Central Europe. Since 1997, Müller-Motzfeld has led twelve scientific expeditions to Central Asia , especially to Kyrgyzstan , Kazakhstan , Uzbekistan and Tajikistan .

From 1984 to 1990, Müller-Motzfeld was the district nature conservation officer for the Rostock district . He acted as a member of several entomological, zoological and ecological societies at home and abroad as well as spokesman for the Federal Entomology Committee in the German Nature Conservation Union . In addition, he was a member of the scientific advisory board of the German Society for General and Applied Entomology (DGaaE). The DGaaE honored him in March 2009 with the award of the Meigen Medal .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerd Müller-Motzfeld: The importance of insects for nature and environmental protection. In: Biology in Our Time. 27, 1997, p. 330, doi : 10.1002 / biuz.960270517 .
  2. ↑ Bernhard Klausnitzer (2006): Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Gerd Müller-Motzfeld on his 65th birthday. Entomological News and Reports 50 (3): 175-181.
  3. ↑ Beetle researcher has died. In: Ostsee-Zeitung , edition of July 31, 2009., p. 6
  4. ↑ Lothar Kampf : In memoriam Prof. (iR) Dr. Gerd Müller-Motzfeld  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on July 24, 2012).@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.uni-egoswald.de  
  5. ^ NABU: BFA Entomologie , accessed on August 10, 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Müller-Motzfeld, Gerd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entomologist and ecologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Meissen
DATE OF DEATH July 24, 2009
Place of death High mountains of Kyrgyzstan