Klaus Günther (zoologist)

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Klaus Alfred Günther (born October 7, 1907 in Cottbus , † October 1, 1975 in Berlin ) was a German zoologist and taxonomist who made an important contribution to modern evolutionary theory with his definition of the ecological niche .

Live and act

After graduating from high school at the humanistic grammar school in Cottbus, Günther studied biology , palaeontology , geography , chemistry and numismatics in Berlin and Munich. When Carl Zimmer Günther 1931 received his doctorate with a thesis on the mouthparts of crustaceans . He then volunteered for three years in the department of the Zoological Museum at the Natural History Museum in Berlin. In 1934 he moved to the Museum of Ethnology in Dresden as head of the entomological department . The turmoil of the war meant that Günther also temporarily headed the Münzkabinett in Dresden from 1942 to 1946 .

After the war, Günther returned to the Zoological Institute in Berlin, where he was initially only able to do an honorary job. Through the mediation of his friend Erwin Stresemann , Günther was able to take on an assistant position at Hans Nachtsheim at the Institute for Genetics at the Humboldt University in Berlin in 1948 , with whom he moved to the newly founded Freie Universität Berlin (FU) in 1949 , where he then joined in 1955 associate professor and full professor in 1960. He then headed the Zoological Institute of the FU together with Werner Ulrich until 1970.

Günther published mainly on the classifications of subgroups of hay and ghost horrors and on the taxonomic species of weevils . But also numismatic works, especially from the 1930s and 1940s, come from his pen.

In the dispute between his friend Willi Hennig on the one hand and Ernst Mayr on the other, about the question of the spread of the synthetic theory of evolution and the phylogenetic systematics about the value of a consistent phylogenitic classification , Günther was able to decisively favor Hennig with his contribution to evolutionary biology as the definition of interactions between organism and environment Take sides

The ecological niche according to Günther

Günther was the first German-speaking author and one of the first authors at all to use the term "ecological niche" introduced by Joseph Grinnell (1913) and independently of it by Charles Elton (1927). He introduced the term into research in 1950 in a paper on deep-sea fish after developing a similar concept in 1949, but not yet calling it a “niche”. Günther's definition of the ecological niche differs from the definitions of his predecessors and also from that of George Evelyn Hutchinson, which later became decisive in ecological theory . According to Günther, the niche arises from the overlap of two systems of coefficients, one being “ecological”, based on environmental factors, and the other being “autozoic”, based on the demands and life possibilities of a certain animal species. The niche thus becomes a property of the species; it cannot be described as an abstract niche, possibly even unoccupied (empty) niche space in a habitat, as with Hutchinson. Günther also used the term “ecological license”, the definition of which, however, was only specified later by Günther Osche and thus made manageable.

Günther's concept of the ecological niche was taught in the German-speaking area for a long time, but remained largely without resonance in international literature. Although some English-speaking researchers later developed similar concepts in terms of content, they hardly went into Günther's work.

Publications

  • Günther, K .: Morphology and function of the jaw and gill apparatus of deep-sea fish of the genera Malacosteus and Photostomias ; Copenhagen, Høst, 1959
  • Günther, K .: Creatures of the deep sea ; London, Allen & Unwin, 1956
  • Günther, K .: Le Monde merveilleux des abysses ; Paris, Payot, 1952
  • Günther, K .: Wonderful world of the deep sea ; Berlin-Grunewald, Herbig, 1950
  • Günther, K .: The phasmoids (Orthoptera) of the "Borneo-Expedition Dr. Nieuwenhuis" from the river area of ​​the upper Mahakam ; Madrid, Instituto Español de Entomologîa, 1943
  • Günther, K .: Investigations into the origin of the bracteate form in German coinage in the Middle Ages ; Berlin, Verl. D. German Coin pages, 1941
  • Günther, K .: The coin image of the Roman emperors since Diocletian in the change of their constitutional and actual position ; Gotha, Deutsche Münzblätter, 1934
  • Günther, K .: Structure and function of the mouthparts in Crustaceans from the Cymothoi͏̈dae family (Isopoda) ; (Dissertation), Berlin, J. Springer, 1931

literature

proof

  1. ^ Michael Schmitt: Günther, Klaus Alfred , Lexicon of important natural scientists, 2007, Volume 2; Elsevier GmbH, Munich; P. 132; ISBN 3-8274-1883-6
  2. ↑ Michael Schmitt (1987): 'Ecological niche' sensu Günther and 'ecological license' sensu Osche - two valuable but poorly appreciated explanatory concepts. Zoological contributions NF 31: 49-60.
personal data
SURNAME Günther, Klaus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Günther, Klaus Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist and taxonomist
DATE OF BIRTH October 7, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH cottbus
DATE OF DEATH 1st October 1975
Place of death Berlin