Wilhelm Kühnelt

Wilhelm Kühnelt (born June 28, 1905 in Linz , † April 5, 1988 in Vienna ) was an Austrian entomologist , ecologist and environmentalist .

youth

His father was an administrative lawyer , his mother came from a forester's house. Even as a primary school student, Wilhelm Kühnelt showed a strong interest in natural things and phenomena of the living world and began to “collect”, e.g. B. in the Danube floodplains or (in the summer fossils) near Hieflau. In the humanistic grammar school he found the natural history lessons to be rather underrepresented and soon devoted himself to chemical experiments with friends "on his own".

In autumn 1923, at the request of his father, he enrolled in the law faculty of the University of Vienna, but even then he heard at least one zoology lecture by Prof. Otto Wettstein (herpetologist). In 1924 the father consented to his son studying natural sciences - on the condition that he contributed to his livelihood, which K. did through library work and the like. Ä. also succeeded. He concentrated on exercises and internships because lectures Some of them could be replaced by a study of literature (of course , he did not miss lectures by the paleobiologist Othenio Abel (1875–1946)). But the zoology studies at that time were again unsatisfactory for K. due to the extensive lack of physiology , so that he was only able to carry out some investigations with the doctors - especially those on his dissertation, which specifically dealt with the epicuticle of the insect shell. - His examiners were Jan Versluys (vertebrate morphologist, 1873–1939) and Theodor Pintner (parasitologist, 1857–1942), but Franz Werner (1867–1939), who can be described as an early ecologist, is more likely to be considered as a “doctoral supervisor”.

Wilhelm Kühnelt received his doctorate on June 12, 1927. First he worked as a volunteer at the entomological department of the Vienna Natural History Museum , then he began to teach at two secondary schools (he had also done the “teaching post”) - but in spring 1929 he was (probably at the instigation of Prof. Werner) as Assistant brought back to the 1st Zoological Institute of the University of Vienna.

academic career

Kühnelt initially dealt morphologically (Tridacna) and physio-ecological with marine mussels (habilitation thesis on drilling mussels, Pholas ; Venia of April 29, 1934), but increasingly of course also ecologically with arthropods (e.g. millipedes ). His first lectures were on the snails and myriapods in Austria. - In the summer he repeatedly undertook research trips, often with colleagues or groups of interested people, mainly to south-east Europe and the Mediterranean countries. But he also came to Lunz every year (often several times) - primarily as a member of the microclimate project initiated here (see Lunz Biological Station ). This resulted in a further research focus: soil biology. - In 1942 he was appointed adjunct professor.

In June 1942 Kühnelt married Gertraud Kitzler, Konrad Lorenz's first doctoral student (via Lacerta ). This time was extremely productive - Kühnelt published three trend-setting articles in quick succession (on the forms of life , on the ecological "job plan" and, in 1943, on the key form method); but then "the war situation required" that he was called up to the West Front (for anti-aircraft defense) (9 September 1943). Almost three weeks after the start of the Allied invasion, he was captured near Cherbourg and was transferred England was shipped to the USA - and on the lengthy crossing began to write “Soil Biology” (which appeared in 1950; two new editions, several translations). In Texas he had the opportunity for further edaphological examinations and there he got to know the DDT which was just being tested , which because of its “non-toxicity” nourished great expectations, but was soon to be judged skeptically by him.

In August 1946, back in Vienna, he adopted two neighborhood children (Lore and Walter), whose father and his family had not wanted to survive the end of the war. He returned to teaching, but followed an appointment to Graz in 1949, where he soon set up a very efficient working group. Nevertheless, he was ambitious enough to accept a call back to the University of Vienna in 1952, and for more than twenty years the “ duo ” Marinelli- Kühnelt represented - in all its contradictions - largely “Viennese zoology”. The summer research trips were resumed, and Lunz was also often the destination, e.g. B. at the "Land Biology Course" (every second autumn). The work on the small climate station project could not be continued because the meteorologists no longer cooperated - to them the methodology no longer seemed "exact enough", which however meant that everything that had been collected so far could no longer be evaluated. Kühnelt has repeatedly tried to revive the ecologically so promising project so that dozens of "man-years" would not be wasted on collecting data, but in vain. - From 1955 he was a correspondent, from 1956 a real member of the Academy and there u. a. Head of the Board of Trustees for the Biological Station Lunz or the commission for the publication of the Catalogus faunae Austriae .

In 1964 he spent several weeks in the Namib desert , not least for the sake of the Tenebrionidae , one of his favorite groups of animals due to their ecological specializations. But also Orthoptera , Carabidae and Chrysomelidae had “done” to him (in Lunz and also in the area of ​​the Neusiedler See ). He had put together remarkable collections of all the groups he was interested in, so that his apartment (on Märzstrasse) was slowly becoming "cramped". In 1965 he finally brought out his ecology textbook, which offers a concise overview of the variety of ecological issues. without going into the mathematization that is popular today. (A second edition was published in 1970 and there is a translation into French.) - He had a phenomenal memory - not only for species, but also for his students (and their 'collaboration'). It should also be mentioned that he always kept in touch with “amateurs” and was able to win over some for university studies - even Hans Hass counts here . After his retirement (1976) he headed an urban ecology project for a while and also turned to biological border areas (e.g. "extra-sensory perception" in animals). On excursions announced in the course catalog until the early 1980s , Kühnelt still used to "run away from the front" - bony and wiry as he was, always inconspicuous, but appropriately dressed and equipped - "without the slightest concession to the respective fashion" ( Friedrich Schaller ).

Pioneer of environmental protection

The otherwise audience-shy Prof. Kühnelt suddenly became known to a broader public in 1969 when he - almost like a cabaret - appeared together with the limnologist Gertrud Pleskot (1913–1978) against "nuclear dangers" and environmental destruction. But the “laughing stock” was soon taken seriously by many - something astonishing in an environment that was still optimistic about progress. z. B. Kühnelt first had to convince his friend Konrad Lorenz of the incompatibility of “nuclear power” with the biosphere in a long conversation . Kühnelt was very moderate in assessing politics as the “art of the possible” - he participated e.g. B. 1984 not in the "Hainburg movement" (with which he naturally sympathized), because he believed that the increase in energy consumption was (for the time being) indispensable. It may be that Kühnelt's metaphysical point of view came into play here, according to which the human mind cannot represent the highest “intelligence” at all, yes “may” (in order not to become arrogant) .- Prof. Tollmann mentions that K. - no "Grüner" - has supported organizations like "Greenpeace" with considerable amounts.

As he got older, bronchitis became increasingly troublesome in winter, leading to heart failure in early April 1988.

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  At the end of the 1930s, K. obtained sand lizards for his future wife for her dissertation (mating behavior, 1942) from Konrad Lorenz .

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  The psychrophilic alpine Helicide Cylinderus obtusus , one of Kühnelt's "favorite animals" in Lunz (publ .: 1937).

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  The genus Oreina was revised by K. 1984 along with other Chrysomelinae (under Chrysochloa ).

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  Excerpt from the wealth of forms of the Tenebrionidae .

Publications of Wilhelm Kühnelt

(Excerpts from the directory with over 200 entries)

• About the construction of the insect skeleton. Diss. Univ., Vienna 1927 (Zool. Jbr 1928, pp. 219-278).
• Biological observations on " Cylindric obtusus ". In: Archives for Molluscology. 69: 52-56 (1937).
• Revision of the ground beetle genera "Patrobus" and "Diplous". In: Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Vienna. 51 (1940): 151-192.
• Zoological results from one of Professor Dr. Jan Versluys guided research trip to Zante. In: Negotiations of the Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna. 88–89, Vienna 1941, pp. 109–214 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
• Composition and structure of the animal world of Carinthia. In: Carinthia II. 132 (52) (1942): 5-26
• A contribution to the knowledge of the soil fauna of some forest types in Carinthia. In: Carinthia II. 137-138 (57) (1948): 165-173.
• The land animal world, with special consideration of the Lunz area. In: E. Stepan: The Ybbstal. Volume 1 (1948): 90-154.
• Preliminary list of the orthopters and dermapters that have been found in Upper Austria and are still to be expected. In: Natkdl. Mitt. Oberösterr. 1/2 (1949): 6-10.
• The copulatory apparatus of butterflies and its importance for the system. Z. Arbeitsgem. Austrian Entomol. 2 (1950): 46-48, 69-72.
• About the structure of the communities on the mainland. In: Verh. Zool.-bot. Ges. Vienna. 92: 56-66 (1951).
• Contributions to the knowledge of the soil fauna of Carinthia and its neighboring areas. In: Carinthia II. 143 (63) (1953): 42-74.
• A contribution to the knowledge of animal life forms (life forms in relation to the mechanical condition of the place of residence). In: Verh. Zool.-bot. Ges. Vienna. 93: 57-71 (1953).
• Considerations on the current state of biocenoticism. ibid. 94: 29-39 (1954).
• Types of water balance in animals. In: Sbe. math.-nat.wiss. Class east Akad. Wiss. Vienna 164 (1955): 50-64.
• Points of view for the assessment of the big city fauna (with special consideration of the Vienna conditions). In: Ost. Zool. Z. 6 (1956): 30-54.
• Life forms and directions of development of the mussels. In: Verh. Zool.-bot. Ges. Vienna. 96: 16-41 (1956).
• Biología del suelo. Consejo superior de investigaciones scientíficas, Madrid 1957. 280 pp.
• The Tenebrionids of Iran. In: Sbe. math.-nat.wiss. Class east Akad. Wiss. Vienna. 166: 66-102 (1957).
• White as a structural color in desert tenebrionids. ibid. 104-112.
• Austria's insect world from an ecological perspective. In: Verh. Zool.-bot. Ges. Vienna. 100: 35-64 (1960).
• Lothar Machura, Max WP Beier, Wilhelm Kühnelt, Wilhelm Marinelli: For the 50th anniversary of the journal of the Vienna Entomological Society. In: Z. Wr. Ent. Ges. 50 (1964): 178-180.
• Ecologie générale. Masson, Paris 1969. 360 pp.
• The scientific importance of insect collections. Thoughts on the 25th anniversary of the “Entomological Works from the Museum G. Frey”. In: Ent. Work Mus. G. Frey. 25: 1-3 (1974).
• Soil Biology. With Special Reference to the Animal Kingdom (3rd ed.). Faber and Faber, London 1976, 483 pages, ISBN 978-0-571-09741-8 , ISBN 0-571-09741-3 .
• The penetration of a herbivorous ladybird (Epilachna argus Geoffr.) Into the Vienna basin. In: Sbe. math.-nat.wiss. Class east Akad. Wiss. Vienna. 190 (1981): 161-172.
• Preliminary overview of the cold-blooded land and shore fauna in the vicinity of the biological station near Mikrolimni on the Kleiner Prespa lake. In: Physis (quarterly magazine of the Greek Nature Conservation Society). 26: 32-39 (1981).
• A supposed "Chrysochloa" species from the Sierra Nevada (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae). In: No. math.-nat.wiss. Class Austrian Akad. Wiss. Vienna. 123: 65-77 (1983).
• Red list of molluscs endangered in Austria (snails and mussels, mollusks). In: Red Lists of Endangered Animals in Austria. (1983): 179-185.
• Monograph of the leaf beetle genus "Chrysochloa". In: Sbe. math.-nat.wiss. Class Austrian Akad. Wiss. Vienna. 193: 171-287 (1984).