Bernhard Rensch
Encyclopedia
Bernhard Rensch was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 evolutionary biologist, and ornithologist who did field work in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He is probably best known as one of the architects of the modern evolutionary synthesis
Modern evolutionary synthesis
The modern evolutionary synthesis is a union of ideas from several biological specialties which provides a widely accepted account of evolution...

, which he popularised in Germany. Besides his work on how environmental factors influenced the evolution of geographically isolated populations and on evolution above the species level, which contributed to the modern synthesis, he also worked extensively in the area animal behavior (ethology
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....

). His education and scientific work was interrupted by service in the German military during both World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Biography

Rensch was born in Thale
Thale
Thale is a town in the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany.-Geography:It is situated on the river Bode, approximately 8 km west of Quedlinburg. It is the terminus of the Magdeburg–Thale railway.- History :...

. He served in the German army from 1917–1920, and then continued his education. He received his PH.D from the university of Halle in 1922. He joined the zoological museum of the University of Berlin as an assistant in 1925. In 1927 he participated in a zoological expedition to the Sunda islands
Sunda Islands
The Sunda Islands are a group of islands that form part of the Malay archipelago.They are further divided into the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands.-Administration:...

. He studied the geographical distribution of subspecies of polytypic
Polytypic
In zoology, polytypic refers to a taxonomic unit with more than one subgroup at the next lower level.-See also:*Linnaean taxonomy*monotypic*monotypic habitat...

 species and of complexes of closely related species with attention to how local environmental factors influenced their evolution. In 1929 he published the book Das Prinzip geographischer Rassenkreise und das Problem der Artbildung that discussed the relationship between geography and speciation. His work in this area would influence Ernst Mayr
Ernst Mayr
Ernst Walter Mayr was one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. He was also a renowned taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, historian of science, and naturalist...

, who was also an assistant at the Berlin museum from 1927–1930, and contribute to the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis
Modern evolutionary synthesis
The modern evolutionary synthesis is a union of ideas from several biological specialties which provides a widely accepted account of evolution...

. In 1937 he was forced to leave the Berlin museum because he refused to join the Nazi party and he took a position at a zoological garden in Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...

. In 1940 he was recalled for military service, but was discharged for medical reasons in 1942.

In 1947 he published a book that would later be translated into English under the title Evolution above the species level. The book discussed how the evolutionary mechanisms that drove speciation could also explain the differences between higher taxa and it was considered a major document in the modern synthesis. That same year he became chairman of the zoology department and director of the zoological institute at the University of Münster. In 1953 he would take part in zoological expedition to India. Later in his career he would work extensively in the areas of animal behavior (ethology
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....

), learning, and memory. He published an autobiography in 1979 and remained scientifically active until his death in 1990.

Rensch's rule

Rensch's rule
Rensch's rule
Rensch's rule is an allometric law concerning the relationship between the extent of sexual size dimorphism and which sex is larger. Across species within a lineage, size dimorphism will increase with increasing body size when the male is the larger sex, and decrease with increasing average body...

 was proposed by Bernhard Rensch in 1950. It is an allometric law about the relationship between sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and which sex is larger. It observes that across species size dimorphism increases with increasing body size when the male is the larger sex, and decreases with increasing average body size when the female is the larger sex.

Awards

He was awarded the Linnean Society of London
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...

's prestigious Darwin-Wallace Medal
Darwin-Wallace Medal
The Darwin–Wallace Medal is a medal awarded by the Linnean Society of London for "major advances in evolutionary biology". Historically, the medals have been awarded every 50 years, beginning in 1908...

 in 1958.

External links

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