Werner Kratz

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Werner Rudolf Kratz (born March 12, 1949 in Feldatal-Groß Felda , Hessen ) is a German ecologist, zoologist, conservationist, ecotoxicologist and soil biologist.

General career

Since 1972 Kratz has been working at the Free University of Berlin , Institute for Biology in Berlin-Dahlem , first as a student and tutor at the Institute for Soil Zoology, research assistant (Institute for Soil Zoology and Ecotoxicology), then university assistant (C1) at the Institute for Soil Zoology and Ecotoxicology . He then worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Animal Physiology .

From 1998 to 2000 Kratz held the chair ( C3 professorship ) for soil biology and ecotoxicology at the Martin Luther University in Halle . In 2000 he moved to the Brandenburg State Environment Agency , where he was head of the department for ecology, environmental analysis, human and environmental toxicology, sustainability, climate and environmental monitoring until 2012. Since 2011, as a private lecturer at the FU Berlin Institute for Biology, he has been responsible for lectures, seminars and excursions on a voluntary basis, including the course “Career prospects for biologists and nature conservationists”.

Parallel to his professional activities, Kratz made his diploma, the doctorate to Dr. rer. nat . and the habilitation - private lecturer at the Free University of Berlin with the teaching qualification Venia Legendi for the subjects ecology & zoology as well as ecotoxicology.

When he retired in 2012 , he was Deputy Chairman at NABU Brandenburg and head of the Federal Committee for Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology at NABU Germany .

In 1986 Kratz founded terra Protecta GmbH. Clients are the BMU / UBA , the Senate of Berlin , state governments, research institutions, municipalities from Brandenburg, district offices of Berlin and many more. Kratz was appointed by the IHK Berlin in 1990 as a publicly appointed and sworn expert (öbv) for soil protection issues. He held this office until he was 65 years old.

Since 2020, Kratz's work focuses have been in the context of ecotoxicology in connection with biodiversity and nature conservation issues , eutrophication of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, trace substances and pharmaceuticals in the terrestrial and aquatic environment, the effects of climate change, microplastics as well as forest ecology and ecosystem assessments and management. Kratz is a member of the sustainability advisory board of the state of Brandenburg. From 2015 to 2020 Kratz was a member of the Forestry Committee of the State of Brandenburg. Kratz is also a member of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) committee of the state of Brandenburg.

Kratz is married, has two daughters and lives in Berlin .

Education, life and impact 1972 to 1994

Via the second educational path, qualified electromechanical worker, who was examined by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Kratz obtained the general university entrance qualification in 1972 at the Hessenkolleg Rüsselsheim. At the same time, he worked as a company electrician at Südzucker AG in 3-shift operation to finance the visit to the Hessenkolleg.

Kratz went to West Berlin immediately after graduating from university. There, exempted from compulsory military service, he works as a skilled worker for electromechanics at AEG in Berlin-Wedding and for the company Deckel, Berlin branch / main plant in Munich. In both industrial companies it was used for the electrical installation of large devices (switch cabinets for turbines and copy milling machines).

After receiving a rejection for the subject of medicine, he studied computer science at the TU Berlin from 1972 . But his first semester was marked by massive strikes at the Berlin universities and normal studies were not possible. Kratz was elected to the strike council and represented the interests of the freshmen.

Since Kratz was brought up to be very close to nature through early childhood experiences in his family (father was a forest worker in Vogelsberg / Hesse after being a prisoner of war in the USA - today the Hoher Vogelsberg Nature Park), Kratz applied to the central university for the subject of biology when there was no prospect of ever being able to start studying medicine Allocation office for study places (ZVS) and got a study place at the Heinrich Heine University Hanover. The move from West Berlin to Hanover took place in 1973. He moved into a room in Hanover-Herrenhausen. Kratz applied to the FU Berlin as a career changer and was also accepted into the second semester of biology teaching at the FU Berlin by the decision of the faculty council.

In the years 1979–1981 Kratz worked on his diploma thesis in the field and in the laboratory, which had an urban ecological and environmental chemical issue. Topic: Biocenotic investigations in epilithic moss cushions in Berlin (West) . From 1981 to 1985, Kratz was a research associate and coordinator in the BMFT project for the prospective evaluation of environmental chemicals in the sub-project " Effect and fate of Na-PCP in an urban wasteland ecosystem " and in the research project of the Free University of Berlin " Heavy metal pollution in the Berlin landscape ". The following main areas of work were

• Ecological field studies, faunistic studies on earthworms, insects,
• Litter reduction tests, litter analysis
• Laboratory tests for autecological studies on Folsomia candida (Coll.) For the development of ecotoxicological test procedures.
• Ecotoxicological studies on the soil fungus Trichoderma viride with the aim of comparing it with Folsomia candida (Coll.) U. Compose Nebria brevicollis (Carab.) Into a food chain laboratory model.
• Radiochemical studies with 14C-Na-PCP on F. candida (Coll.) U. N. brevicolis (Carab.) For biomagnification and bioaccumulation.
• Radiochemical studies with 14C-Na-PCP on questions of the metabolism of this substance in soil organisms and soils.
• Development of a model ecosystem for the balancing and accumulation of pentachlorophenol and cadmium in different invertebrate species as well as for the determination of the unavailable shares (" bound residues ") in the soil and the litter.
• Use of outdoor lysimeters with undisturbed soil columns for distribution studies of pentachlorophenol and cadmium in invertebrates, plants and soils.
• Project application, various interim reports, status seminars, project coordination of the Berlin working groups at the TU Berlin, BBA Berlin and FU Berlin.

In 1985 Kratz wrote his dissertation on the topic: On the effect and distribution of cadmium nitrate in a ruderal ecosystem in Berlin . The Free University of Berlin earned Kratz a Dr. rer. nat. at the Department of Biology. From 1985 to 1987 he was in charge of the research project: Heavy metals in sewage field soils and their uptake by cultivated plants . (Bornkamm / Kratz, Berlin research, dissertation Carol Salt). From 1986 to 1991 it also carried out the interdisciplinary Umweltbundes R&D project : "Forest ecosystems close to conurbations ", funded by the BMU and the Senate Department for Urban Development and Environmental Protection, Berlin.

In 1989 Kratz worked in the central evaluation and planning group of the Senate Department for Urban Development and Environmental Protection Berlin on the project " Forest Ecosystems Near Conurbations ", project ended in 1991. In 1986, Kratz was appointed to a commission of the BBA, Berlin to develop an OECD guideline for Folsomia candida (Coll. ) appointed as a test organism for testing environmental chemicals according to the Chemicals Act . In 1987 Kratz organized the third plenum " Soil Mesofauna " with around 50 participants from the FRG and the Netherlands on the subject of soil protection and bioindication at the Free University of Berlin, Department of Biology. In 1988 Kratz was appointed to a commission of the BBA, Braunschweig, to develop a guideline for the Plant Protection Act to assess the effect of pesticides on earthworms . From 1988 Kratz worked in the European Science Foundation project: Forest Ecosystem Research Network, Litter mass-loss rates in a climatic transect in Europe . Project conception u. Supervision of the Berlin forest site. Project ended in 1992.

Voluntary work since retirement in 2012

In the meantime, Kratz was visiting lecturer at the University of Vechta , the Federal Environment Agency in Dessau, the Technical University Berlin, the Technical University Dresden, the University of Jyväskyla, Finland, the University of Coimbra, Portugal, the University of Saladiga, Indonesia.

Kratz has been giving lectures across Germany on topics of ecology, soil biology, biodiversity, nature conservation, environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology since 2020. He supervises and advises citizens' initiatives (factory farming, beekeepers in matters of pesticide contamination in honey, etc., Braune Spree, etc.) and is active as a scientific advisory board in various projects. Kratz was most recently co-author of the internationally acclaimed Leopoldina study on the silent spring 2.0 and the need for a fundamental redesign of pesticide approval and pesticide laws. Kratz has been responsible for the BMBF DINA project - Diversity of Insects in Natural Areas since 2018, in which he himself volunteers a sub-project for monitoring pesticides in the ground-level atmosphere, in close cooperation with the Krefeld entomological association. In addition, Kratz supervises bachelor, master and doctoral theses at various universities in Germany.

Since 2011, Kratz, as a private lecturer at the Free University of Berlin , Institute for Biology with his assistant M.Sc. Roland Wanke (since 2016) volunteer lectures, seminars, excursions etc. a. “Career prospects for biologists and nature conservationists”.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ terra protecta GmbH // Office for Ecosystem Assessments //. Retrieved May 4, 2020 . 
2. ↑ scratch, Werner .: biocoenotic investigations in epilithischen moss beds in Berlin (West). Diploma thesis FU Berlin. 240 pp.
3. ^ Kratz, Werner: On the effect and distribution of cadmium nitrate in a ruderal ecosystem in West Berlin. PhD thesis. Berlin, Free University, Faculty 23 (Biology), dissertation to obtain a doctorate . Berlin 1984.
4. ^ Schäffer, A., Filser, J., Freshness, T., Gessner, M., Köck, W., Kratz, W., ... & Scheringer, M .: The silent spring — on the need for sustainable plant protection. Ed .: Leopoldina Discussions, 16, 61. 2018.