From Biology to Ecology

This chapter assesses the development of a canon of animal “biology” (soon to be called ecology). It tries to demonstrate how the canon was formed through the synthesizing, popular work of secondary school teachers and museum men. Biologie was critical to the development of ecology (especially animal ecology) in Germany. The chapter shows the circumstances under which Biologie became Oekologie, with particular attention to the development of a technical language for ecology that gave it a specialist character and set it apart from its popular counterpart. The writings of Karl Kraepelin, Kurt Lampert, and Friedrich Dahl exemplify both the style and content of the biological perspective developed by museum men in the early twentieth century. Richard Hesse published the first volume of the massive two-volume Animal Structure and Animal Life. Freshwater biology and ecology were gaining new institutional sources of support for professional research.