Friedrich (or Friederich) Wilhelm Zopf (12 December 1846 – 24 June 1909) was a well-known German

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as ...

. He dedicated to his whole life with fungal biology, particularly in classification of fungi and dye production in fungi and lichens. Besides, his textbook on fungi called “Die pilze in morphologischer, physiologischer, biologischer und systematischer beziehung (Translation: The mushrooms in morphological, physiological, biological and systematic relationship)” in 1890 was also an outstanding work on the subject for many decades. The unicellular achlorophic

microalgae Microalgae or microphytes are microscopic algae invisible to the naked eye. They are phytoplankton typically found in freshwater and marine systems, living in both the water column and sediment. They are unicellular species which exist indiv ...

'' Prototheca zopfii'' is named after him because of his profound suggestions and contributions to Krüger's pioneering work in '' Prototheca''. Thus, his numerous contributions gave him a special status in mycological history.

Early life

Wilhelm Zopf was born in

Roßleben Roßleben is a town and a former municipality in the Kyffhäuserkreis district, with a population of 4,885 (2017). It is located in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town Roßleben-Wiehe. It is situated on the river Uns ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

in 1846. Before going into biological science area, he has been an elementary school teacher in Thondorf at Mansfeld when he was 21-year-old.

Education and research career

In 1874, Wilhelm Zopf decided to leave his teaching position and turned into studying natural sciences at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

. Also in 1874,

Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst (22 March 1806 – 24 April 24) was a German botanist and mycologist. Biography Rabenhorst was born in Treuenbrietzen. He studied in Berlin and Belzig from 1822 to 1830, worked as a pharmacist in Luckau until 1840, and ...

published '' Zopfia'', which is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately fr ...

in the family Zopfiaceae and was named after Wilhelm Zopf. He then received his PhD with a dissertation entitled “Die von Conidienfrüchte von Fumago (Translation: Conidia of '' Fumago'')” at the University of Halle in 1878. As Wilhelm Zopf obtained his degree, simultaneously, he also went back to Berlin as an adjunct professor teaching at the Agricultural College for a few years. In 1883, he was invited to be a head of the cryptogamic laboratory at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

. In the period of 1883 to 1899, he made extensive studies on

Chytridiales Fungi of the order Chytridiales, like other members of its division, may either have a monocentric thallus or a polycentric rhizomycelium. When the ribosomal genes of members classified in this order were first examined using molecular techniq ...

and other small aquatic fungi parasitic in algae and small animals. Likewise, he also published an authoritative fungal textbook in which he followed a classification similar in part to that of

Julius Oscar Brefeld Julius Oscar Brefeld (19 August 1839 – 12 January 1925), usually just Oscar Brefeld, was a German botanist and mycologist. Biography Brefeld was a native of Telgte. He studied pharmacy in Heidelberg and Berlin, and afterwards served as an as ...

but placed

Ascomycetes Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defi ...

last in 1890. In this group, he made them went from the simple forms, like ''

Saccharomyces ''Saccharomyces'' is a genus of fungi that includes many species of yeasts. ''Saccharomyces'' is from Greek σάκχαρον (sugar) and μύκης (fungus) and means ''sugar fungus''. Many members of this genus are considered very important in f ...

'', '' Endomyces'', ''

Gymnoascaceae The Gymnoascaceae are a family of fungi in the Ascomycota, class Eurotiomycetes Eurotiomycetes is a large class of ascomycetes with cleistothecial ascocarps within the subphylum Pezizomycotina, currently containing around 3810 species accordi ...

'', to

Pezizales The Pezizales are an order of the subphylum Pezizomycotina within the phylum Ascomycota. The order contains 16 families, 199 genera, and 1683 species. It contains a number of species of economic importance, such as morels, the black and white ...

. In addition, he recognized the formation of ascogonia in many ascomycetes and even the union of these in

Pyronema ''Pyronema'' is a genus of fungi in the family Pyronemataceae The Pyronemataceae are a family of fungi in the order Pezizales. It is the largest family of the Pezizales, encompassing 75 genera and approximately 500 species. Phylogenetic analys ...

, with club-shaped “ pollinodia”, but expressed doubt as to their real sexual function. In 1884, Heinrich Georg Winter published '' Zopfiella'' which is a genus of fungi within the Lasiosphaeriaceae family and also named in Zopf's honour. In 1899, Wilhelm Zopf became a professor and a director of the botanical garden at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...

. He continued the research on fungal biology and systematics. During his work on fungal biology, he became more interested in secondary chemistry of these organisms, particularly the lichens. He published on more general problems related to lichen biology, particularly in the genus Cladonia. He died in Münster in 1909, and his name was further commemorated by

Edvard Vainio Edvard August Vainio (born Edvard Lang; 5 August 185314 May 1929) was a Finnish lichenologist. His early works on the lichens of Lapland, his three-volume monograph on the lichen genus ''Cladonia'', and, in particular, his study of the clas ...

in the naming of '' Cladonia zopfii'' (a species of lichen) in 1919. Lastly, Wilhelm Kirschstein in 1939 published ''Zopfinula'' (another genus of fungi).

Other scientific contributions

Wilhelm Zopf was the first people to carry out the chemical differences in lichens. In 1907, his book “Die Flechtenstoffe in chemischer, botanischer, pharmakologischer und technischer Beziehung (Translation: The lichen substances in chemical, botanical, pharmacological and technical relationship)” was published. This book contained descriptions of over 150 chemical compounds found in lichens. Little was known about the actual structures of many of those compounds, but his work gave a sounder basis for the use of chemistry in the taxonomy of lichens. Although nematode-trapping fungus have been known since 1839, its predatory habit was first observed by Wilhelm Zopf as well. This recorded observation of ''

Arthrobotrys oligospora ''Arthrobotrys oligospora'' was discovered in Europe in 1850 by Georg Fresenius. ''A. oligospora'' is the model organism for interactions between fungi and nematodes. It is the most common nematode-capturing fungus, and most widespread nematode-t ...

''’s behavior was attributed to him in 1888. This kind of fungi actively captures small worms, generally classified as

nematode The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant- parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhabiting a bro ...

s or roundworms.

Selected publications

* Zopf, W. 1890: Die pilze in morphologischer, physiologischer, biologischer und systematischer Beziehung. Jena: E. Trewendt. 500 pp. * Zopf, W. 1897: Zur Kenntniss der Flechtenstoffe (Vierte Mittheilung). Liebigs Annalen der Chemie 297: 271–312. * Zopf, W. 1905: Biologische und morphologische Beobachtungen an Flechten. I. Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft 23: 497–504. * Zopf, W. 1906: Biologische und morphologische Beobachtungen an Flechten. II. 1. Über ''Ramalina kullensis'' n. sp. Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft 24: 574 –580. * Zopf, W. 1907: Die Flechtenstoffe in chemischer, botanischer, pharmakologischer und technischer Beziehung. Jena: G. Fischer. 450 pp. * Zopf, W. 1908: Beiträge zu einer chemischen Monographie der Cladoniaceen. Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft 26: 51–113.

References

External links