Otto von Helversen

Otto von Helversen (born August 9, 1943 in Sofia , † March 2, 2009 in Erlangen ) was a German biologist .

Life

The son of a diplomat first went to school in Munich, then in Wiesbaden. After graduating from high school in 1962, he studied biology and mathematics at the universities of Mainz , Tübingen and Freiburg im Breisgau from 1962 to 1968 . At the University of Freiburg he passed his diploma in biology with a thesis on honeybees and was given a dissertation in 1970 with a dissertation on the subject of "On the sensitivity of honeybees to different spectra" with Bernhard Hassensteinto the Dr. rer. nat. PhD. After receiving his doctorate, von Helversen was a research assistant in the von Hassenstein group until 1979. His habilitation took place in 1978. During his time in Freiburg, von Helversen was influenced not only by Hassenstein but also by Günther Osche . In 1979 he took several calls and decided to take the chair for Zoology II at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg , which he held until 2008.

Act

In addition to acoustic communication in insects, von Helversen primarily investigated the behavior and ecology of bats .

In 2001 his research group described a previously unknown bat species, the nymph bat ( Myotis alcathoe ) in Greece . Furthermore discovered Helversen together with colleagues a new type of ultraviolet - perception with flowers bats. He has also done other work on the behavior of the blind-winged bats . Much of his work was done together with his wife Dagmar von Helversen .

Literature about Otto von Helversen

• Bernhard Ronacher , Harald Wolf , York Winter: Obituary for Otto von Helversen, August 9, 1943 - February 2, 2009. Zoologie 2009 (communications from the German Zoological Society ), pp. 73–76 ( PDF ).
• Christian C. Voigt, Klaus-Gerhard Heller, Marc Holderied, Frieder Mayer, Marco Tschapka, Marianne Volleth, York Winter: An inquisitive mind: Prof. Dr. Otto Freiherr von Helversen-Helvesheim (1943–2009). In: Acta Chiropterologica. 11 (2): 467-469. 2009 ( PDF; only accessible with registration) ).
• Jochen Martens , Harald Pieper , Ragnar Kinzelbach : Otto von Helversen, zoologist from Passion Arachnologische Mitteilungen Heft 37, Arachnologische Gesellschaft, 2009, pp. 41–44. ( PDF )
• Bernhard Ronacher, Harald Wolf, York Winter, Christian Dietz and Frieder Meyer: On the death of Professor Otto von Helversen. Nyctalis (NF) Berlin 14 (2009), 1-2: 158-165 Nyctalis (NF) Berlin 14 (2009), 1-2: 158-165

Works

• Christian Dietz, Otto von Helversen, Dietmar Nill: Handbook of the bats of Europe and Northwest Africa. Kosmos Verlags-GmbH, June 2007, ISBN 3-440-09693-9
• G. Heckel, O. von Helversen: Genetic mating system, relatedness and the significance of harem associations in the bat Saccopteryx bilineata. Mol Ecol 12, 2002, pp. 219-227.
• G. Heckel, O. von Helversen: Male tactics and reproductive success in the harem polygynous bat Saccopteryx bilineata. Behav Ecol 13, 2002, pp. 750-756.
• CC Voigt, O. von Helversen, RH Michener, TH Kunz: The economics of harem maintenance in the sac-winged bat Saccopteryx bilineata. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 50, 2001, pp. 31-36.
• CC Voigt, O. Von Helversen: Storage and display of odor by male Saccopteryx bilineata (Chiroptera; Emballonuridae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 47, 1999, pp. 29-40.
• Harald Wolf, Otto von Helversen: 'Switching-off' of an auditory interneuron during stridulation in the acridid ​​grasshopper Chorthippus biguttulus L. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 158 (6), 1986, pp. 861-871, doi : 10.1007 / BF01324827 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Otto von Helversen in the catalog of the German National Library
• O. von Helversen, KG Heller, F. Mayer, A. Nemeth, M. Volleth, P. Gombkötö: Cryptic mammalian species: a new species of whiskered bat (Myotis alcathoe n. Sp.) In Europe. In: The natural sciences. Volume 88, Number 5, May 2001, pp. 217-223, ISSN  0028-1042 . PMID 11482435 . (With this article the nymph bat was introduced to the public)
• Hummingbirds of the Night “Bat Pope” lived in Neuhaus for years . North Bavarian News from April 10, 2009