Bert Hölldobler
Bert Hölldobler | |
---|---|
Born |
Andechs | 25 June 1936
Residence | Germany |
Nationality | German |
Fields | Sociobiology |
Institutions | Arizona State University |
Known for | Ants |
Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize |
Bert Hölldobler (born 25 June 1936) is a German behavioral biologist, sociobiologist and evolutionary biologist.
Life
Hölldobler studied biology and chemistry at the University of Würzburg. His doctoral thesis was on the social behavior of the male carpenter ant and their role in the organization of carpenter ant societies. He was named professor of zoology at the University of Frankfurt in 1971. From 1973 to 1990 he was professor of biology and Alexander Agassiz professor of zoology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1989 he returned to Germany to accept the chair of behavioral physiology and sociobiology at the Theodor-Boveri-Institute of the University of Würzburg. From 2002 to 2008 Hölldobler was an Andrew D. White Professor at Large at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Since his retirement in 2004 Hölldobler has worked as a research professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. There he is one of the founders of the Social Insect Research Group (SIRG) and of the Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity.
Research fields and results
Hölldobler is an international scientist of excellence. His experimental and theoretical contributions cover sociobiology, behavioral ecology, and chemical ecology. His primary study subjects are social insects and in particular ants. His comprehensive work on social insects, mainly on ants provided lots of valuable insights into:
- mating strategies, dimorphism
- the regulation of reproduction
- A) in primitive, hierarchical insect organisations
- B) in superorganisms
- Superorganisms
- superorganisms-Territoriality-population structure[9]
- the evolutionary theory of social parasitism
- new detected exocrine gland organs in ants
- ant nests as ecological islands
Awards
- John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (1980)
- Pulitzer Prize (1991) for The Ants together with Edward O. Wilson
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (1990)
- U.S. Senior Scientist Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- Werner Heisenberg-Medal of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- Körberpreis for the European Science (1996)
- Karl Ritter von Frisch Medal and Science Prize of the German Zoological Society (1996)
- Benjamin Franklin-Wilhelm v. Humboldt Prize of the German-American Academic Council ( 1999)
- Honorary doctor Biology of the University of Konstanz (2000)
- Order of Merit First Class of the Federal Republic of Germany (2000)
- Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (2003)
- Alfried-Krupp-Wissenschaftspreis (2004)
- Treviranus-Medal of the Verband deutscher Biologen (vdbiol) (2006)
- Lichtenberg-Medal (2010)
- Ernst-Jünger-Prize for Entomology Baden-Württemberg (2010)
- Cothenius-Medal in Gold of the Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (2011)
- Exemplar Award by the American Animal Behavior Society (2013)
Academic associations
- Fellow of the American Animal Behavior Society (1992)
- Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (1986 korrespondierend, 1995 ordentlich)
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Deutsche Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina (1975)
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (1979)
- Academia Europaea (1994)
- Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften ( 1995)
- National Academy of Sciences (USA) (1998)
Documentary films
In addition to his published scientific papers and books, Hölldobler's work was the subject of the documentary film Ants - Nature's Secret Power the winner of the 2005 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festivals Special Jury Prize.
- Ants don't fight wars for war's sake on YouTube
- Ants fight to survive on YouTube
- The amazing world of ants on YouTube
Books
- Bert Hölldobler, E.O. Wilson: The Ants, Harvard University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-674-04075-9
- Bert Hölldobler, E.O. Wilson: Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration, 1994, ISBN 0-674-48525-4
- Bert Hölldobler, E.O. Wilson: The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies, W.W. Norton, 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-06704-0
- Bert Hölldobler, E.O. Wilson: The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011, ISBN 978-0-393-33868-3
References
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, U. Maschwitz, 1965. Der Hochzeitsschwarm der Rossameise Camponotus herculeanus L. (Hym. Formicidae). Z. Vergl. Physiol. 50:551-568
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, 1971. Sex pheromone in the ant Xenomyrmex floridanus J. Insect. Physiol. 17:1497-1499
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, M. Wüst, 1973. Ein Sexualpheromon bei der Pharaoameise Monomorium pharaonis (L.) Z. Tierpsychol. 32:1-9
- ↑ K. Sommer, B. Hölldobler, 1992. Coexistence and dominance among queens and mated workers in the ant Pachycondyla tridentata Naturwissenschaften 19:470-472
- ↑ K. Tsuji, K. Egashira, B. Hölldobler, 1999. Regulation of worker reproduction by direct physical contact in the ant Diacamma sp. from Japan Animal Behaviour 58:337-343
- ↑ J. Liebig, C. Peeters, B. Hölldobler Worker policing limits the number of reproductives in a ponerine ant Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 266:1865-1870
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, E.O. Wilson, 1983. Queen Control in Colonies of Weaver Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Ann. of the Ent. Soc. of America 76:235-238
- ↑ N.F. Carlin, B. Hölldobler, 1984. Nestmate and Kin Recognition in Interspecific Mixed Colonies of Ants Science 222:1027-1029
- 1 2 B. Hölldobler, C. Lumsden, 1980. Territorial Strategies in Ants Science 210:732-739
- ↑ J. Gadau, C.P. Strehl, J. Oettler, B. Hölldobler, 2003. Determinants of intracolonial relatedness in Pogonomyrmex rugosus (Hymenoptera; Formicidae) – mating frequency and brood raids, Molecular Ecology 12: 1931-1938
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, 1974. Home range orientation and territoriality in harvesting ants Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 71:3274-3277
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, 1976. Recruitment behavior, home range orientation and territoriality in harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 1:3-44
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, N.F. Carlin, 1987. Anonymity and specificity in the chemical communication signals of social insects J. Comp. Physiol. A 161:567-581
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, M. Obermayer, G.D. Alpert, 1998. Chemical trail communication in the amblyoponine species Mystrium rogeri Forel (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Ponerinae) Chemoecology, 8:119-123
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, H. Engel, 1978. Tergal and sternal glands in ants Psyche 85:285-330
- ↑ B. Hölldobler, H. Engel, R.W. Taylor, 1982. A New Sternal Gland in Ants and its Function in Chemical Communication Naturwissenschaften 69:90
External links
- Arizona State University School of Life Sciences
- Link to Professor Hölldobler's faculty listing at Arizona State University School of Life Sciences
- Darwin Distinguished Lecture Series
- Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
- The Social Nature of Nature - Ask A Biologist Audio Interview
Web interviews
Hölldobler's 2007 interview on the Ask A Biologist podcast program details his early life growing up in Germany as well as his interest in ants and writing.
- Drexel Interview part 1 on YouTube
- Drexel Interview part 4 on YouTube
- Interview mit Alida Mercado Gárdenas on YouTube
- UC Riverside. Leading Entomologist to Give Talk at UC Riverside on Communication and Cooperation in Ant Societies