Matthias Schaefer

Matthias Schaefer (born April 23, 1942 in Berlin ) is a German zoologist and ecologist . From 1977 until his retirement in 2007 he was head of the department for ecology at the 2nd Zoological Institute of the University of Göttingen .

Schaefer studied biology , chemistry and Slavic studies at the universities of Bonn and Kiel from 1961 to 1969 . In 1969 he received his doctorate from the University of Kiel and in the same year also passed the examination for teaching at grammar schools for biology and chemistry. He completed his habilitation in zoology in Kiel and was appointed professor for zoology at the University of Göttingen in 1977. In 1984 and 1985 he received professorships at the universities of Bayreuth and Tübingen, which he turned down. In 1986 he was appointed to a professorship for ecology in Göttingen. Schaefer is the author of around 160 scientific articles and the books Brohmer - Fauna von Deutschland and Dictionary Ökologie , the fifth edition of which was published in 2012.

Matthias Schaefer has been a full member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz since 1993 and a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen since 1994 .

Schaefer initially carried out research in Kiel, mainly on arachnids (arachnology); The focus of the research was on the life cycle and the role of the diapause in controlling the development of spiders. Later in Göttingen he turned to soil biology, forest ecosystem research and biodiversity research, which was funded in large-scale projects by the DFG, the Federal Ministry of Research and other federal ministries.

Publications (selection)

• Dictionary of ecology. 5th edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8274-2561-4 ; first edition: Schaefer and Wolfgang Tischler: Ökologie: with an English-German register , Fischer, Jena 1983 (series of dictionaries of biology).
• Fauna of Germany: an identification book of our domestic animal world , founded by Paul Brohmer , with the collaboration of H. Ansorge, 23rd, through. Edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-494-01472-2 .
• The bottom fauna of forests: biodiversity in an ecological system. Steiner, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-515-06912-7 , series Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz. Mathematical and natural science class: Treatises from the mathematical and natural science class; Born in 1996, No. 2.

Editing of magazines

• 1990–2001 Editor-in-Chief of Oecologia
• Member of the editorial board of Oecologia, Basic and Applied Ecology, Pedobiologia, Journal of Arachnology

Web links

• Schaefer's homepage at the University of Göttingen
• History of the Department of Ecology
• Page about Schaefer as a member of the ADW Mainz
• Page about Schaefer as a member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences
• Page about Schaefer's DFG-funded research projects

Individual evidence

1. ^ Member entry by Matthias Schaefer at the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz , accessed on November 6, 2017
2. ↑ see Schaefer's homepage , accessed on January 4, 2016.