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Über die Geburtswehen einer quantifizierenden Ökologie — der Streit um die Kieler Planktonexpedition von 1889
Author(s) -
Breidbach Olaf
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
berichte zur wissenschaftsgeschichte
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1522-2365
pISSN - 0170-6233
DOI - 10.1002/bewi.19900130210
Subject(s) - german , principal (computer security) , ecology , zoology , philosophy , biology , geography , computer science , archaeology , operating system
In 1889 the Kiel plancton expedition started to perform the first quantitative analysis in marine ecology. The methods performed by this expedition caused an extensive discussion about the suitability of quantitative methods in a study of biological organizations. This discussion outlined the theoretical differences between the two main German schools in zoology: the descriptive morphology as performed by Ernst Haeckel and the analytical physiology as initiated by Emil DuBois‐Reymond. The present study describes the positions of both, the morphology and the physiology, one the one hand, to analyze the theoretical background of the new formed ecological science, and on the other hand, to outline some aspects of the principal situation of the German biology in the late 19th century. These more principal aspects are so more of interest as the discussion initiated by the Kiel plancton expedition extended to a controversy about the theoretical value of the theory of evolution. Implications for the theoretical basis of recent ecology are discussed.