Institute for Bird Research "Helgoland Bird Observatory"

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The Fort Rüstersiel with the bird observatory from the air
Vogelwarte Helgoland (island station), view from the southeast
Postage stamp of the Federal Republic of Germany (2010)

The institute for bird research "Vogelwarte Helgoland" (IfV) is a non-university research facility in Wilhelmshaven , which belongs to the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture . The IfV is also the ringing center responsible for north-west Germany .

history

Ornithological station Helgoland in Fort Rustersiel in Wilhelmshaven

Bird research on Heligoland began with Heinrich Gätke . He observed, collected and documented the sea and migratory birds on the island. He made contact with the important ornithologies of his time, and Helgoland developed into a center for bird research. Gätke published the research results he had acquired over several decades in 1891 in the book "Die Vogelwarte Helgoland". Around the same time he sold his bird collection and scientific library to the Prussian Biological Institute on Heligoland. Gätke was unconsciously the creator of the term "Vogelwarte" and with his collection laid the foundation stone for the later "Vogelwarte Helgoland".

The Institute for Bird Research was founded on April 1, 1910 as the Helgoland ornithological station within the Prussian Biological Institute on Helgoland . In 1926 it moved into the former staff officer's building, which was vacant due to the demilitarization of the island. His main task was the research of bird migration on the island. After the island of Helgoland had been evacuated due to the war, the institute started again in Wilhelmshaven, today's headquarters. An IfV outstation has been operating again on the Heligoland Oberland since March 1953 ( Lage ). Scharhörn was also a branch from 1939 to 1975. The institute mainly deals with basic ornithological research and the diverse relationships between birds and their animate and inanimate environment. Bird migration research is still the main topic of scientific work today.

Color-ringed Sanderling (Calidris alba) on Heligoland

Another outstation of the institute is located on the north side of the Banter See in Wilhelmshaven, where studies have been carried out on a common tern colony on the population ecology and physiology of this long-lived seabird species since the 1980s .

The IfV was initially housed in a former marine signal station at the former 3rd entrance. Since March 1966 the Heligoland ornithological station has had its headquarters in a new building on the site of the former Fort Rüstersiel in the Wilhelmshaven district of Rüstersiel .

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ornithological station, the special postage stamp shown opposite was issued on April 8, 2010 . The design comes from the design office Elsenbach & Fienbork in Hückeswagen . The multi-color offset printing took place in the Bundesdruckerei Berlin.

Head of the institute

The following scientists have headed the institute since it was founded:

literature

  • Heinrich Gätke : The Helgoland ornithological station , edited by Prof. Dr. Blasius, Braunschweig 1891.
  • Gottfried Vauk : History of the ornithological station and bird research on the island of Helgoland . - 160 p., Numerous Fig., Otterndorfer Verlagsdruckerei H. Huster KG, Otterndorf, 1977.

Web links

Commons : Institute for Bird Research “Vogelwarte Helgoland”  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Petra Werner, The founding of the Royal Biological Institute on Helgoland and its history up to 1945, in: Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen, Vol 47 (Suppl.), 1993, page 71

Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′ 52.2 "  N , 8 ° 6 ′ 29.8"  E