Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research

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Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research
founding 1945 (as Biological Station Wilhelminenberg )
Sponsorship University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna
place Vienna
management Leonida Fusani
Website www.vetmeduni.ac.at/klivv

The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research (KLIVV) is a research institute of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna . The aim of the research is to "create basic knowledge and thus also contribute to solving problems in the field of nature and species protection."

history

The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research was founded in 1945 in the 16th district of  Vienna by Otto Koenig and Lilli Koenig as the Wilhelminenberg Biological Station . Inspired by Konrad Lorenz 's work, they founded the institute to conduct comparative behavioral research ( ethology ) while taking evolutionary aspects into account . Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt , who worked on the site during his biology studies at the University of Vienna from 1946 to 1949 and, thanks to the pond there, did a study on the mating biology of the common toad ( Bufo bufo ) as a Dr. phil. was awarded his doctorate , described the establishment of the "Station Wilhelminenberg" in 1985: Otto Koenig occupied six empty military barracks opposite Wilhelminenberg Castle in 1945 , surrounded the area with written entry bans and designated it as the Wilhelminenberg Biological Station . Together with Eibl-Eibesfeldt, six more students started studying behavioral biology: Edmund Frühmann, Ilse Gilles, Kurt Gratzl, Heinz Prechtl , Wolfgang Schleidt and Eberhard Trumler . "For their research Otto and Lilli Koenig kept numerous animals in aviaries, aquariums and enclosures on the spacious institute premises."

In 1967 the Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences emerged from the Wilhelminenberg Biological Station , and Otto Koenig remained its director until his retirement in 1984. After that, Dr. Hans Winkler, ornithologist , evolutionary biologist and later professor at the Universities of Vienna and Salzburg, appointed head of the institute. During his tenure as director from 1985 to 1987 and from 1991 to 2002 the complete redesign of the institute's premises, the construction of new buildings and modern laboratories, the addition of internationally recognized evolutionary biologists to the scientific staff, and the rise of the institute to a world-class top research institution. While Winkler carried out his own extensive research activities mainly abroad, the management was taken over by Wolfgang Schleidt between 1987 and 1991.

In 1989 the Austrian Academy of Sciences renamed the institute to its current name after the death of Konrad Lorenz. In 2002 the position of director changed from Hans Winkler to the US scientist Dustin J. Penn, PhD. At the beginning of 2011 the institute was merged with the Research Institute for Wildlife Science and Ecology at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna ; Under the name given in 1989, it is part of the Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. The merger resulted in a center with around 80 scientists.

research

Research at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research initially focused on sexual selection and sexual conflict. The basic question was what characteristics a female uses to select her sexual partner from a given number of males. The research topics in 2011 range from behavioral research and evolution to research into the physiological adaptations of wild animals to the ecological conditions in their habitats.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c As an autodidact to a recognized behavior researcher - 100 years of Otto Koenig. University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna on idw-online , October 23, 2014.
  2. ↑ Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt: Mating biology of the common toad (Bufo bufo L.). Dissertation . University of Vienna, Vienna 1949.
    Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt: A contribution to the mating biology of the common toad (Bufo bufo L.). In: Behavior. Volume 2, 1950, pp. 217-236.
  3. ↑ Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt : "Fishy, ​​Fishy, ​​Fishy." Autobiographical Sketches. In: Donald A. Dewsbury: Studying Animal Behavior. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London 1985, p. 74, ISBN 0-226-14410-0 .
  4. ↑ CV of Prof. Dr. Hans-Christoph Winkler , June 7, 2015
  5. ↑ a b VetMed takes over the Konrad Lorenz Institute , December 22, 2010
  6. ↑ Homepage KLIVV Research ( Memento of November 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (page in English, accessed on November 17, 2009)
  7. ↑ Homepage KLIVV Publications ( Memento of June 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (page in English, accessed on November 17, 2009)