Martin Wikelski

Martin Wikelski (born November 18, 1965 in Munich ) is a German biologist and ornithologist . He is a professor at the University of Konstanz and director of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior (until 2019 part of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology ) in Konstanz and Radolfzell.

Life

In 1991 he completed his biology studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . In 1994 he received his doctorate in behavioral ecology from Bielefeld University . This was followed by post-doctoral positions at the University of Washington in Seattle and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, as well as positions as assistant professor at the University of Illinois and Princeton University , where he became a full-time professor in 2005. In 2008 Wikelski returned to Germany from the USA and became Professor of Ornithology at the University of Konstanz and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell on Lake Constance . From 2009 to 2011 he was board spokesman of the International Max Planck Research School for Organizmal Biology .

Wikelski does research on global animal migrations . Among other things , he is a scientific advisor to the German edition of National Geographic and since 2018 a Fellow of the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC He also acted as a scientific advisor to the series Great Migrations - The great miracle of animal migrations of the National Geographic Channel .

Icarus project

Wikelski is the head of the Icarus project ( International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space ). The project is supported by the Russian space agency Roskosmos and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) , among others . The aim of the Icarus project is to use complex technology to understand animal behavior.

Wikelski is considered to be the inventor of the Internet of Animals, who is convinced that animals exchange information with each other and with their environment via a certain system. The system can be tapped, analyzed and evaluated using state-of-the-art technology. From space, the International Space Station (ISS) can track the movements of 100,000 birds, bats, fish and mammals around the world with transmitters.

Research during the Covid-19 pandemic

In 2020, Wikelski and an international consortium of researchers examined how the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown are affecting the animal world. With the help of the data from mini-transmitters that have been equipped with wild animals around the world, it is checked whether the movement patterns of animals have changed and whether the fauna benefits from corona restrictions. Wikelski and his team hope that their research project will provide insights into better human and animal coexistence.

Awards

• 2016 Max Planck Research Award
• 2014 member of the Leopoldina
• 2010 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year
• 2008 National Geographic Emerging Explorer
• 2000 Bartolomew Prize Winner of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, USA
• 1998 Niko Tinbergen Prize Winner of the Ethological Society

Publications (selection)

• Bernard Gall, Martin Wikelski. Travel guide nature, Brazil, Venezuela , BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich / Vienna / Zurich 1993, ISBN 978-3-405-14320-6 .
• Martin Wikelski, Elisa M Tarlow, Arlo Raim, Robert H Diehl, Ronald P Larkin, G Henk Visser: Costs of migration in free-flying songbirds . In Nature No. 423, 2003, p. 704.
• William W Cochran, Henrik Mouritsen, Martin Wikelski: Migrating songbirds recalibrate their magnetic compass daily from twilight cues . In Science No. 304, 2004, pp. 405-408.
• Melissa S Bowlin, William W Cochran, Martin Wikelski: Biotelemetry of New World thrushes during migration: Physiology, energetics and orientation in the wild . Integrative & Comparative Biology No. 45, 2005, pp. 295-304.
• Steven J Cooke, Scott G Hinch, Martin Wikelski, Russel D Andrews, Louise J Kuchel, Thomas G Wolcott, Patrick J Butler: Biotelemetry: a mechanistic approach to ecology . In TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution No. 19, 2004, pp. 335-343.
• William W Cochran, Martin Wikelski. Individual migratory tactics of New World Catharus thrushes: current knowledge and future tracking options from space In Birds of Two Worlds ed. by Russel Greenberg, Peter P Marra, 2005, pp. 274–289.

Web links

• Literature by and about Martin Wikelski in the catalog of the German National Library
• Employee profile of the University of Konstanz
• Member profile at the Leopoldina (PDF)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Martin Wikelski . Website of the Max Planck Society. Retrieved November 7, 2011.
2. ↑ Regulations of the IMPRS for Organizmal Biology ( Memento of the original from August 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 47 kB). Website of the IMPRS for Organizmal Biology. Retrieved November 7, 2011. 
3. ↑ In conversation with ornithologist Prof. Dr. Martin Wikelski . Science information service website. Retrieved November 7, 2011.
4. ↑ @NatGeoDeutschland: The sixth sense of the migratory birds. February 20, 2018, accessed May 16, 2020 . 
5. ↑ see homepage at http://www.tiersensoren.mpg.de/16575/ueber-icarus
6. ↑ Tina Baier: The inventor of the animal Internet. Retrieved April 18, 2020 . 
7. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Researchers want to investigate lockdown effects on animals. Retrieved June 28, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Martin Wikelski (with picture and CV) at the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina , accessed on June 7, 2016.
9. ^ Adventurers of the Year 2010 . National Geographic website. Retrieved November 7, 2011.
10. ^ Martin Wikelski . National Geographic website. Retrieved November 7, 2011.