Wolfgang Jackdaw

Wolfgang Dohle (born November 13, 1936 in Bad Kreuznach ) is a German zoologist and evolutionary biologist . He is a professor emeritus at the Free University of Berlin and researched mainly in the field of phylogenetics of arthropods . In addition, he supervised several limnological research projects in Berlin and Brandenburg and is actively involved in the development and maintenance of the Lower Oder Valley National Park .

life and work

Wolfgang Dohle was born on November 13, 1936 in Bad Kreuznach, his family moved to Kempen , now Kępno, in the Warthegau in 1941 . In 1945 the family fled to Kiel , where Wolfgang Dohle graduated from high school in 1955 and then studied biology at the University of Kiel . In 1957 he became a bird warden on the North Sea island of Mellum and studied at the University of Tübingen and the University of Innsbruck , before receiving his doctorate in Adolf Remane's group in 1963 and then working as a research assistant for the German Research Foundation with Rolf Siewing . In the same year Dohle married his wife Winolde, with whom he has three daughters, and went to the Free University of Berlin , where in 1972 he completed his habilitation in the Department of Biology with developmental biology work on cancers and was later appointed professor. Dohle was involved in the restructuring of biology studies and the development of new course content in the early 1970s, which at the Free University of Berlin was accompanied by a sharp increase in the number of students and professors. He offered basic courses in general zoology as well as in-depth courses, in addition, he established basic and advanced courses in ecology , in which he applied a strong limnological focus and, among other things, the research location Heiligensee and the teaching and research station of the FU in Wohlde in Schleswig-Holstein built up. Together with Walter Sudhaus , he also developed and established the basic course “Principles of Phylogenetics and Systematisation” as an integral part of the basic biological course.

He retired in 1999, but continued to work as a zoologist and conservationist for a long time.

Research priorities

In his doctoral thesis, Wolfgang Dohle dealt with the embryonic development of the sap pod ( Glomeris marginata ) <Villers> in comparison to the development of other diplopods and later worked on topics of phylogenetics and comparative developmental history and the developmental biology of the arthropods . His habilitation in 1972 took place on the basis of several contributions to the embryonic development of crustaceans .

In his working group at the Free University of Berlin, the comparative development history of arthropods and articulated worms (Annelida) was the focus. Dohle himself concentrated on comparative embryology and published numerous publications on the subject. Among other things, he worked on the comparative morphology and embryonic development of various millipedes and crabs, and later also on leeches . On the basis of the results in connection with molecular biological results, he discussed different concepts of relationship between crabs, millipedes and insects .

Wolfgang Dohle's working group also worked in the field of limnology based on the internship structure. From 1975 to 1995, the team worked on several long-term studies at the Heiligensee in Berlin, on which the ecology of an increasingly eutrophic ecosystem could be examined. The accompanying research for the rehabilitation of other lakes such as the Tegeler See and the Schlachtensee on behalf of the Berlin Senate and the Federal Environment Agency was added from 1982 and the surveys on nutrient pollution and plankton development were continued by the Federal Environment Agency until 2011. Further limnological work concerned the Lower Oder Valley. Together with Reinhard Born comb and Gerd Weigmann he oversaw the the Donors' Association for German Science funded multi-year project "The Lower Oder Valley - effects of periodic flooding on biological communities and species" in which, among other things, the effects of periodic flooding on bottom dwelling animals such as ground beetles and arachnids were examined.

In addition to this work, Wolfgang Dohle concentrated on bird watching and the investigation of the avifauna in Berlin, Brandenburg and the Lower Oder Valley in particular in his free time and also after his retirement .

Environmental protection commitment in the Lower Oder Valley

After the German reunification in 1989, Wolfgang Dohle became increasingly involved with research in the Oder Valley and in 1992 he was one of the founders of the Association of Friends of the German-Polish European National Park Unteres Odertal eV, with which he submitted the proposal to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation Elaborated the riparian strip project on the banks of the Oder and created the maintenance and development plan for the Lower Oder Valley National Park . He is also active on the board of trustees of the National Park Foundation Unteres Odertal.

literature

• Ansgar Vössing: Jackdaw approaching - For the 70th birthday of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Jackdaw. In: Nationalpark - Jahrbuch Unteres Odertal 3, 2006; Pp. 126-128.
• Gerd Weigmann: Facets of the university professor and scientist Wolfgang Dohle. In: Nationalpark - Jahrbuch Unteres Odertal 8, 2011; Pp. 159-163.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ansgar Vössing: Jackdaw approaching - For the 70th birthday of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Jackdaw. In: Nationalpark - Jahrbuch Unteres Odertal 3, 2006; Pp. 126-128. ( Full text ( memento from September 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ))
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Gerd Weigmann: Facets of the university professor and scientist Wolfgang Dohle. In: Nationalpark - Jahrbuch Unteres Odertal 8, 2011; Pp. 159-163. ( Full text ( memento from September 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ))