History of the Ecology Forum

Initiated by Professor Werner Buchner, Ministerial Director in the former Bavarian Ministry for Development and the Environment, the ‘Commission for Ecology’ at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities was founded in 1986. In 2015, the commission’s name was changed to ‘Ecology Forum’ as part of a structural reform at the Academy.

Founding of the Commission for Ecology

14.06.1985	The Mathematics and Natural Sciences section of the BAdW installs a discussion group tasked with the formation of a ‘commission for ecology.’ The group included the following members of the academy: Klaus Betke (Medicine) Horst Hagedorn (Geography) Otto Kandler (Microbiology, botany) Otto L. Lange (Botany, ecology) Gerhard Neuweiler (Zoology) Heinrich Nöth (Chemistry) Dietrich Schneider (Zoology) Hubert Ziegler (Botany)
05.07.1985	At its first meeting, the group requests the Executive Secretary of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences section of the BAdW, Hansjochem Autrum, to constitute a Commission for Ecology. The following experts were proposed as additional members: Dietrich Herm (Geology, paleontology) Wolfgang Haber (Landscape ecology) Karl-Eugen Rehfuess (Forstry) Udo Schwertmann (Soil science)
09.05.1986	The members of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences section of the BAdW unanimously votes for the constitution of a Commission for Ecology. Professor Neuweiler agrees to chair the commission.
20.02.1987	First meeting of the members of the new Commission for Ecology. Two additional experts are suggested to the Mathematics and Natural Sciences section of the BAdW: Josef Fittkau (Zoology) Dietrich Henschler (Toxicology)
30.03.1988	Professor Hubert Ziegler is elected chair of the commission. Under his guidance, the series „Round-Table Discussions of the Commission for Ecology” is initiated, in collaboration with the publisher Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich. Under Professor Ziegler’s guidance (1988 - 2009), the commission organized 37 Round-Table discussions and two other events.

Restructuring to Ecology Forum

As part of a structural evaluation of the BAdW in 2015, the commission gains an outside Advisory Board with a chairman who is a meber of the BAdW, but not a member of the commission. Until 2015, the Commission for Ecology had met 111 times.

List of current members of the Committee.

Honorary member

Betke, Klaus Hermann, Dr. med. Dr. h.c., Professor em. für Kinderheilkunde, München (1986-2001, † 26.6.2011, obituary in Jahrbuch BAdW)

Böck, August, Dr. rer.nat. Dr. sc. e.h., Professor em. für Mikrobiologie, München (1992-2010)

Bresinsky, Andreas, Dr. rer.nat., Professor em. für Botanik und Mykologie, Regensburg (2009-2020)

Fischbeck, Gerhard, Dr. agr. Dr. h.c. mult, Professor em. für Pflanzenbau und Pflanzenzüchtung, TUM, Freising (1993-2015, † 8.11.2020, orbituary in Ges. für Pflanzenzüchtung GPZ)

Fittkau, Josef, Dr. rer.nat., Professor i.R. für Zoologie, München (1987-2012, † 12.5.2012, obituary in Spixiana)

Frey, Dieter, Dr. phil., Professor für Sozialpsychologie, Univ. München (1998-2015)

Fritz, Peter, Dr. rer.nat. Dr. h.c., Professor em. für Hydrologie, Leipzig (1990-1991)

Hagedorn, Horst, Dr. rer.nat. Dr. h.c., Professor em. für Geographie, Würzburg (1986-2013, † 11.5.2018, obituary BAdW)

Henschler, Dietrich, Dr. med., Professor em. für Toxikologie, Würzburg (1987-2001, † 4.4.2014, obituary in DFG: forschung)

Herm, Dietrich, Dr. rer.nat., Professor em. für Geologie und Paläontologie, München (1986-2019)

Hölldobler, Bert, Dr. rer.nat. Dr. h.c. mult., Professor em. für Zoologie, Würzburg (1996-2010)

Huber, Franz, Dr. rer.nat Dr. h.c. mult., Hon.-Professor em. für Zoologie, Seewiesen (1990-2003, † 27.4.2017, obituary BAdW)

Kandler, Otto, Dr. rer.nat Dr. h.c. mult., Professor em. für Botanik, München (1986-2005, † 29.8.2017, obituary in Bay. Bot. Ges., obituary BAdW)

Lange, Otto, Dr. rer.nat. Dr. h.c. mult., Professor em. für Botanik, Würzburg (1986-2009, † 14.8.2017, obituary Univ. Würzburg)

Mayinger, Franz, Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. e.h. mult., Professor em. für Thermodynamik, TUM, Garching (1991-2015, † 24.6.2021)

Neuweiler, Gerhard, Dr. rer.nat Dr. h.c., Professor em. für Zoologie und vergleichende Anatomie, München (1986-2000, Vorsitzender der Kommission 1986-1988, † 15.8.2008, obituary in Jahrbuch BAdW)

Nöth, Heinrich, Dr. rer.nat. Dr. h.c. mult., Professor em. für Anorganische Chemie, Univ. München (1986-2015, † 26.6.2015, obituary BAdW, Gedenkfeier BAdW: Rede Präsident)

Rehfuess, Karl Eugen, Dr. rer.nat., Professor em. für Bodenkunde, TUM, Freising (1987-2016)

Renner, Susanne S., Dr. rer.nat., Professorin i.R. für Systematische Botanik, LMU München (2012-2021, Vorsitzende des Ausschusses 2014-2021)

Schlüter, Arnulf, Dr. rer.nat, Professor em. für Theoretische Physik, Garching (1992-2000, † 24.6.2011, obituary in Jahrbuch BAdW)

Schneider, Dietrich, Dr. rer.nat. Dr. h.c., Hon.-Professor em. für Zoologie, Seewiesen (1986-2004, † 10.6.2008, obituary in Jahrbuch BAdW)

Schwertmann, Udo, Dr. rer.nat Dr. h.c., Professor em. für Bodenkunde, Freising (1986-2002, † 20.1.2016, obituary TU München)

Stetter, Karl O., Dr. rer.nat., Professor i.R. für Mikrobiologie, Univ. Regensburg (2003-2017, Vorsitzender der Kommission / des Ausschusses 2009-2014)

Weinert, Franz E., Dr. phil, Hon.-Professor em. für Psychologie, München (1990-1998, † 7.3.2001, obituary in Jahrbuch BAdW)

Zenk, Meinhart, Dr. rer.nat. Dr. h.c. mult., Professor em. für Pharmazeutische Biologie, Halle (1990-2001, † 5.7.2011, obituary in Jahrbuch BAdW)

Ziegler, Hubert, Dr. rer.nat. Dr. h.c. mult., Professor em. für Botanik, München (1986-2009, Vorsitzender der Kommission 1988-2009, † 17.4.2009, obituary in Jahrbuch BAdW)

Overview of all Chairmen

	Chairman	Deputy Chairman
1986 to 1988	Gerhard Neuweiler
1988 to 2009	Hubert Ziegler	Dietrich Herm
2009 to 2014	Karl Stetter	Dietrich Herm
2014 to 2021	Susanne S. Renner	Erwin Grill
since 02/2021	N.N.	Erwin Grill

Former Members