Wolfgang Zech

Wolfgang Zech (born July 30, 1937 in Rosenheim ) is a German soil scientist and was Professor of Soil Science and Soil Geography at the University of Bayreuth from 1976 to 2005 .

life and work

After graduating from high school, Wolfgang Zech studied chemistry, physical education (sport) and geography at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich from 1957 and passed the scientific teaching exams in these subjects in 1961 and 1962. From 1961 to 1963 he completed his legal clerkship for teaching at grammar schools in Bavaria and passed the second teaching examination with distinction. From 1963 to 1976 he was a research assistant at the Institute for Soil Science and Site Studies at the LMU with Willi Laatsch and, after his retirement in 1971, with Karl-Eugen Rehfuess . With Willi Laatsch he received his doctorate in 1968. rer. nat. with the topic “Calcareous soils as a nutrient substrate for conifers. Ecological Studies in Southern Germany "and completed his habilitation in 1972 with a thesis on" Relationships between soil and relief properties and the growth performance of Pinus brutia in South Anatolia ".

In 1976 he was appointed to the newly created chair for soil science and soil geography at the University of Bayreuth , which was founded in 1972 . He was one of the pioneers in the development of the new geoecology course and helped set up the African development studies in geography course at the University of Bayreuth. His main research interests are tropical soils (especially Ferralsols ), mountain soils (especially Leptosols ), anthropogenic soils (especially anthrosols ), organic matter ( humus ) and soil contamination . He is the author of 356 (as of 2017) scientific articles and supervised numerous doctoral theses. Eight of his students became professors.

Awards

• 2015: Honorary member of the German Soil Science Society

Books by Wolfgang Zech

• G. Hintermaier-Erhard, W. Zech: Dictionary of soil science. Enke, Stuttgart 1997. ISBN 3-432-29971-0 .
• W. Zech, G. Hintermaier-Erhard: Soils of the world. Spectrum, Heidelberg 2002. ISBN 3-8274-1348-6 .
• W. Zech, P. Schad, G. Hintermaier-Erhard: Soils of the world. 2nd Edition. Springer Spectrum, Heidelberg 2014. ISBN 978-3-642-36574-4 .

literature

• B.-M. Wilke et al .: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Zech 80th birthday , in: Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science , volume 180/2017, p. 496. ISSN  1436-8730