Rudolf Berndt (ornithologist)

Rudolf Berndt (born July 27, 1910 in Cremlingen , † June 2, 1987 in Weddel ) was a German ornithologist and nature conservationist .

life and work

The son of a pastor attended the Wilhelm Gymnasium in Braunschweig and then studied from 1930 to 1938 in Braunschweig , Göttingen and Leipzig the subjects of zoology, botany, geology, physics, chemistry and meteorology. His doctorate as Dr. rer. nat. he graduated in Leipzig in 1938 with the ornithological work Intrasternale Trachealschlingen bei Vögel . In 1930 he volunteered at the Heligoland ornithological station . Between 1935 and 1941 he was the scientific director of the model and testing station for bird protection in Steckby in Saxony-Anhalt . He was a member of the State Association for Bird Protection Saxony-Anhalt eV, founded on July 15, 1940 in Halle (Saale), as an advisory board. Berndt took part in the Second World War from 1941 and was taken prisoner by the United States and England in 1944 . He returned to Braunschweig in 1947, where he founded the bird protection station there that same year, of which he was director for many years. From 1952 to 1966 he worked as a research assistant at the Lower Saxony bird sanctuary. From 1967 to 1977 he was in charge of the Braunschweig outstation for population ecology at the institute for bird research "Vogelwarte Helgoland".

Ornithological research

Berndt worked on the population biology of cave-breeding bird species, especially titmice and flycatchers . Berndt conducted research between 1945 and 1986 within an area of ​​600 hectares in eastern Lower Saxony, in which 4,000 nest boxes were examined annually and around 526,600 cave-nesters were ringed over the years.

natural reserve

The pond area Riddagshausen , which has been designated as a nature reserve since 1936 , was raised to the rank of a " European reserve" in 1962 at Berndt's request . This title is awarded by the German section of the International Council for Bird Conservation. He played a key role in the development of the Braunschweig district group of the German Association for Bird Protection, which is now part of the German Nature Conservation Union . He worked actively on the reintroduction of gray goose and eagle owl in Lower Saxony . Since the late 1960s, he has campaigned for the Drömling, which was then divided by the inner-German border, to be designated as a large nature reserve. The Drömling is an approx. 320 square kilometers large former fen that is fed by everyone and ears. In the late 18th century, the Drömling began to be drained and transformed into a cultural landscape. Berndt recognized the value of these break, moor, swamp and water areas, especially for ornithology. But he also emphasized autochthonous forms of various tree species (pine, spruce, gray alder).

The Red List of Birds in the Federal Republic of Germany , first published in 1971, goes back to an idea by Berndt.

Afterlife

On February 4, 1997, Dr. Berndt-Weg in the nature reserve Riddagshausen named after him.

Works (selection)

Berndt is the author and co-author of 445 publications. His most important works and book chapters, which are also of national importance, include:

• with Wilhelm Meise : Natural history of birds: a handbook of general and special ornithology. 3 volumes, 1958–1966.
• Bernhard Grzimek (ed.): Grzimeks animal life . Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom Volume 9, Birds III. 1970.

The following publications are of regional importance for the Braunschweig area:

• The birds of the Brunswick hill country. Braunschweig 1988.
• Faunistic and ecological aspects for nature conservation, landscape design and structural planning in the Braunschweig area. Braunschweig 1979.

literature

• Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon. 19th and 20th centuries. Hanover 1996, p. 55.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rudolf Berndt, development plan for the Drömling as a large reserve for nature conservation, research and observation. Ms. 17 pages, Braunschweig December 10, 1968. Available in HStA Han Nds. 620 Celle Acc 2001/170 No. 2.