Max Tilzer

Max M. Tilzer , also: Max von Tilzer (born April 30, 1939 in St. Anton am Arlberg , Tyrol ) is an Austrian biologist and professor emeritus for aquatic ecology at the University of Konstanz and former director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar - and marine research.

Life

Max Tilzer studied biology with a focus on ecology at the University of Vienna . In 1967 he was charged with a thesis on the void space fauna of two mountain streams in the Tyrolean Alps doctorate . In a research assignment from the University of Innsbruck and the International Biological Program (IBP) coordinated by UNESCO , he worked between 1967 and 1973 on the production process of phytoplankton and pelagic bacteria in an Austrian high mountain lake. Due to this scientific activity , he completed his habilitation at the University of Innsbruck in limnology .

From 1974 and 1976 Max Tilzer conducted research at the University of California, Davis as part of the Tahoe Research Group; he investigated the light dependence of photosynthesis in phytoplankton in the extremely clear and unproductive Lake Tahoe . In 1976 Tilzer received a call to the Technical University of Berlin for the chair of limnology. In 1978 he changed to the chair of limnology at the University of Freiburg , where he became director of the Limnological Institute, which is part of the Freiburg University and is based in Constance . In 1980 he moved to the University of Konstanz as a professor and the institute was transferred to the University of Konstanz. Tilzer initiated a multidisciplinary, ecosystem-oriented research project on Lake Constance . Between 1986 and 1992 he was also the spokesman for the Collaborative Research Center “Substance Balance of Lake Constance”.

Tilzer took part in four major scientific expeditions to the Antarctic Ocean from 1980 to 1987 to research the production processes of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean under the extreme environmental conditions prevailing there, primarily the prevailing low temperatures.

In 1992, Max Tilzer was released from the professorship and for five years took over the post of scientific director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Bremerhaven , which is affiliated to the Helmholtz Association, and the management of the associated research vessel Polarstern and several scientific research stations in both polar regions. He was particularly committed to researching the role of polar regions for the global climate with coordination.

In 1997 Tilzer returned to the Chair of Aquatic Ecology at the University of Konstanz with the aim of teaching and researching inland water systems and oceans, as well as participating in the “Red Sea Program”, in which researchers from Germany in the Gulf of Aqaba , Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority worked together. He was also involved in the special research area “Bodenseelitoral” with the project of the dynamics of the outgrowth community in the shoreline of Lake Constance.

Tilzer was involved in various committees, such as 1996 to 2000 in the Scientific Advisory Board on Global Change of the Federal Government (WBGU). To this day he organizes several series of lectures on these and related topics as part of the Studium Generale at the University of Konstanz and beyond. He also deals with areas such as paleoecology and other global environmental issues. In 2004 he was at the University of Konstanz emeritus .

photography

Since he was twelve, Max Tilzer has also been working intensively with artistic photography with a focus on nature photography. Since 1991 several exhibitions of his work have taken place, whereby he appears as a photographer under the name Max von Tilzer .

Fonts (selection)

• Dynamics and productivity of phytoplankton and pelagic bacteria in a high mountain lake , Schweizerbart Stuttgart 1972
• Large Lakes: Ecological Structures and Function , Springer-Verlag 1990, ISBN 0-387-52103-8 , together with Colette Serruya
• Material and energy balances in communities. Using the example of the alpine plankton of lakes , Univers.-Vlg Konstanz 1998, ISBN 3-87940-180-2

Web links

• Website Max Tilzer (University of Konstanz)
• Art photography Max M. Tilzer