August Friedrich Thienemann (7 September 1882 in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

– 22 April 1960 in Plön) was a German

limnologist Limnology ( ; from Greek λίμνη, ''limne'', "lake" and λόγος, ''logos'', "knowledge") is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems. The study of limnology includes aspects of the biological, chemical, physical, and geological characteris ...

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

and

ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

. He studied

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, an ...

at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pom ...

. He was an associate Professor of Hydrobiology at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

, and director of the former Hydrobiologische Anstalt der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft (now the Max-Planck-Institut für Limnologie) at Plön. A co-founder of Societas Internationalis Limnologiae, Thienemann is best known for his work on the

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

of the

Chironomidae The Chironomidae (informally known as chironomids, nonbiting midges, or lake flies) comprise a family of nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Many specie ...

, and his contributions to the field of

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

typology. He also introduced the concept of

trophic level The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food web. A food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves. The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it ...

terminology in 1920. Over the course of his career, Thienemann published 460 works. One of his more noted students was

Carmel Humphries Carmel Humphries MRIA B.Sc. M.Sc. PhD D.Sc. (3 June 1909 – 7 March 1986) was an Irish zoologist, specialist in fresh water Chironomidae. She was the first female professor of zoology and head of department in Ireland, and devised a tech ...

, an Irish expert in

Publications (partial list)

*1909 B. Farwick, F. Schröder, A. Thienemann: "Bericht über die botanischen und zoologischen Exkursionen nach dem Weißenstein bei Hohenlimburg und nach der Glörtalsperre am 25. und 26. September 1909." ''S.-B. naturhist. Ver. preuß. Rheinl. Westf''., E 1909: 94–101. *1910 "Die Stufenfolge der Dinge: Der Versuch eines natürlichen Systems der Naturkörper aus dem 18. Jahrhundert." ''Zoologische Annalen Würzburg'' 3, 185–274. *1911 "Hydrobiologische und fischereiliche Untersuchungen an westfälischen Talsperren." ''Z. wiss. Landwirtsch''., 41: 535–716. Steglitz. 371. *1911 "Die Verschmutzung der Ruhr im Sommer 1911", in: ''Zeitschrift für Fischerei und deren Hilfswissenschaften'' 16 (1912), S. 55–86. *1912 "Der Bergbach des Sauerlandes. Faunistisch-biolozische Untersuchungen." ''Int. Rev. Ges. Hydrobiol. Biol''./ Suppl. 4: 1–125. Leipzig. *1915 Die Chironomidenfauna der Eifelmaare; Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereins der preußischen Rheinlande und Westfalens 71 *1918 Untersuchungen über de Beziehung zwischen dem Sauerstoffgehalt des Wassers und der Zusammensetzung der Fauna in norddeutschen Seen"; ''Arch. Hydrobiol''. 12, 1 - 65. *1923 "Geschichte der 'Chironomus'-Forschung von Aristoteles bis zur Gegenwart." ''Deutsche Entomologische Zeitung'', 515– 540. *1925 ''Die Binnengewässer Mitteleuropas''; Stuttgart *1927 "Forschungsreisen und das System der Biologie." ''Zoologische Anzeiger'' 73, 245–253. *1928 Der Sauerstoff im eutrophen und oligotrophen See; Die Binnengewässer 4, Stuttgart *1931 Der Produktionsbegriff in der Biologie; ''Arch. Hydrobiol''. 22, 616–622. *1939 Grundzüge einer allgemeinen Ökologie; ebda 35 *1941 ''Leben und Umwelt;'' Leipzig *1951 "Vom Gebrauch und vom Mißbrauch der Gewässer in einem Kulturlande." ''Arch. Hydrobiol''. 45, 557–583. *1954 "Lebenseinheiten." ''Abhandlungen des naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins Bremen'' 33, 303–326. *1955 ''Die Binnengewässer: Eine Einführung in die theoretische und angewandte Limnologie''; Verständliche Wissenschaft 55, Berlin, Heidelberg und Jena. *1956 ''Leben und Umwelt: Vom Gesamthaushalt der Natur''; Hamburg *1956 ''Die Binnengewässer''; Stuttgart *1959 ''Erinnerungen und Tagebuchblätter eines Biologen; Ein Leben im Dienste der Limnologie''; Stuttgart

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thienemann, August German ecologists 20th-century German zoologists German limnologists 1882 births 1960 deaths University of Münster faculty People from Gotha (town) People from Saxe-Gotha Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Max Planck Institute directors University of Kiel faculty University of Greifswald alumni