The Max Planck Institute for Ornithology (, abbreviated MPIO) was a non-university

research institution A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

under the sponsorship of the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

. As of 1 January 2023, it merged with the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology (MPIN) to form the new

Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence The Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (; abbreviated MPI-BI) is a non-university research institute of the Max Planck Society. The institute is dedicated to basic research on topics in behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology and ...

(MPI-BI). The MPIO was located in Seewiesen, which belongs to the municipality of

Pöcking Pöcking is a municipality in the district of Starnberg in Bavaria, Germany. It is best known for being the location of Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria's childhood summer home, Possenhofen Castle. Transport The district has a railway station, , t ...

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (, ; ) is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat of the district gove ...

. The institutes’s focus was on basic scientific research in the fields of organismic biology,

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

behavioural ecology Behavioral ecology, also spelled behavioural ecology, is the study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior due to ecological pressures. Behavioral ecology emerged from ethology after Niko Tinbergen outlined four questions to address when ...

evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biolo ...

and

evolutionary genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and among populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and popu ...

. The institute is managed on a collegial basis, i.e. one of the two directors of the institute takes over the management for a certain time period. The last managing director was Manfred Gahr (2020–2022).

History and current developments

The Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Physiology was inaugurated in Seewiesen in 1958 under the direction of Erich von Holst and the later

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winner

Konrad Lorenz Konrad Zacharias Lorenz (Austrian ; 7 November 1903 – 27 February 1989) was an Austrian zoology, zoologist, ethology, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von ...

. In 1959, the Ornithological station in

Radolfzell Radolfzell am Bodensee (, ) is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located at the western end ( Zeller Lake) of Lake Constance, approximately northwest of the city of Konstanz (Constance). It is the third largest town, after Ko ...

was attached to the MPI for Behavioral Physiology. Up to this day, the coordination of

bird ringing Bird ringing (UK) or bird banding (US) is the attachment of a small, individually numbered metal or plastic tag to the leg or wing of a wild bird to enable individual identification. This helps in keeping track of the movements of the bird an ...

for South Germany, Austria and Berlin happens in

.''Kaiser-Wilhelm-/Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie'', in: Eckart Henning, Marion Kazemi: ''Handbuch zur Institutsgeschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-/ Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften 1911–2011 – Daten und Quellen'', Berlin 2016, 2 volumes, volume 1: Institute und Forschungsstellen A–L
online, PDF, 75 MB
, pages 668–671; volume 2: Institute und Forschungsstellen M–Z
online, PDF, 75 MB
, pages 227–234; 686–702; 741–749. The Max Planck Institute is a member of the European Union for Bird Ringing (EURING). The history of the ornithological station in Radolfzell reaches back to the former Rossitten Bird Observatory, which was founded by the German Ornithological Society under

Johannes Thienemann Johannes Wilhelm Thienemann (12 November 1863 – 12 April 1938) was a German ornithology, ornithologist and pastor who established the Rossitten Bird Observatory, the world's first dedicated bird ringing station where he conducted research and po ...

in 1901 in what was then

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

(today the Rybatschi Bird Observatory). In 1924, the Rossitten Bird Observatory was integrated into the

Kaiser Wilhelm Society The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science () was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by the Max Planck Society. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organi ...

, moved to

in 1946 and incorporated into the Max Planck Society in 1949. In 1999, the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Physiology closed down and became the research unit for Ornithology of the Max Planck Society by making the departments of Eberhard Gwinner (Andechs) and Peter Berthold at the ornithological station in Radolfzell independent. In 2004, the research unit turned into the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. Until June 2019, the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology had a branch in Radolfzell on

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

and in

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

, with the directors Margaret Crofoot, Martin Wikelski and Iain Couzin. They are now the independent Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. On 1 January 2023, the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology merged to form the new

(MPI-BI).

The structure of the institute

The institute consists of two departments, seven research groups and two working groups. * Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Manfred Gahr * Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Bart Kempenaers * Research Group Evolution of Sensory Systems, Maude Baldwin * Research Group Communication and Social Behaviour, Henrik Brumm * Research Group Acoustic and Functional Ecology, Holger Goerlitz * Research Group Evolutionary Physiology, Michaela Hau * Research Group Behavioural Genetics and Evolutionary Ecology, Clemens Küpper * Research Group Avian Sleep, Niels Rattenborg * Research Group Neural Circuits for Vocal Communication, Daniela Vallentin * Working Group Comparative Cognition, Auguste von Bayern * Working Group Pablo Oteiza

Wind tunnel for research on bird migration

Since 1999, the MPI for Ornithology possesses a wind tunnel in Seewiesen. It has been especially designed for the investigation of aerodynamic aspects and allows the researchers to observe and record animals in flight in a flying section. At the beginning, the main research focus was on metabolic questions (heart rates, wing beat frequencies, water balance, fat metabolism etc.). However, the construction of the tunnel allows for many other studies in diverse fields of interests. The wind tunnel can be used by external researchers. It is the worldwide second tunnel built for flight simulation with birds.

International Max Planck Research School for Organismal Biology

Since 2009, the doctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology took place within the International Max Planck Research School for Organismal Biology (short: IMPRS for Organismal Biology). It was a structured first-class educational program, organized in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Radolfzell and Konstanz and the Department of Biology at the

University of Konstanz The University of Konstanz () is a university in the city of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its main campus was opened on the Gießberg in 1972 after being founded in 1966. The university is Germany's southernmost university and is ...

.''Forschungsbündnis der organismischen Biologie''
Website des Informationsdiensts Wissenschaft. The IMPRS for Organismal Biology officially ended in 2023.

References

External links

Homepage of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence

Homepage of the IMPRS - Biological Intelligence

Deutschlands Forschung: Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie - BR Mediathek
{{Max Planck Society

Ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

Ornithology Genetics in Germany Research in Germany