{{short description|German biologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Otto Ludwig Lange | image = Otto Ludwig Lange.png | image_caption = At the [[International Association for Lichenology]] Symposium (IAL 5) in [[Tartu]], Estonia, 2004 | caption = | alt = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|08|21|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Dortmund]], Germany | death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|08|14|1927|08|21|df=y}} | death_place = [[Würzburg]], Germany | resting_place = | fields = Botany, lichenology, ecophysiology | workplaces = | alma_mater = | author_abbrev_bot = O.L.Lange<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ipni.org/a/22046-1 |title=Lange, Otto Ludwig (1927-) |publisher=[[International Plant Names Index]] |access-date=18 September 2020}}</ref> }}
'''Otto Ludwig Lange''' (21 August 1927 – 14 August 2017 in [[Würzburg]]) was a German [[botanist]] and [[lichenologist]]. The focus of his scientific work was on the [[ecophysiology]] of wild and cultivated plants as well as [[lichens]]. He investigated heat, frost and drought resistance of [[lichen]]s, [[bryophyte]]s and [[vascular plant]]s growing under [[extreme environment]]al conditions.
==Life and education==
Otto Lange was born in [[Dortmund]] on 21 August 1927. His family moved to [[Göttingen]], where he went to school.<ref name="Kärnefelt 2009"/> Lange was drafted into the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German army]] at age 16, and became a [[prisoner of war]]. This experience affected him greatly as a young man, and later in life he supported [[anti-war activism]].<ref name="Nakashima et al. 2017"/> After his return home, he studied [[biology]], [[chemistry]] and [[physics]] at the Universities of [[University of Freiburg|Freiburg]] and [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]].<ref name="Schulze 2018"/> It was from this latter institution that he earned his [[doctorate degree]] in 1952, defending a thesis titled "Heat and drought tolerance of lichens in relation to their geographic distribution". His supervisor was [[Franz Firbas]].<ref name="Schulze 2018"/> He also took the [[certified teacher|state examination]] for teaching at secondary schools. In 1959 he earned his [[habilitation]] in [[botany]]. From 1961 to 1963 he was a scientific advisor at the [[Technische Universität Darmstadt]], where he worked as an [[associate professor]] in the research group of {{ill|Otto Stocker|de}}.<ref name="Schulze 2018"/> From 1963 to 1967 he held the chair for Forest Botany and Technical Mycology at the [[University of Göttingen]] and was responsible for the [[Forestry Botanical Garden and Arboretum]] there. From 1967 Lange was Professor of Botany at the [[University of Würzburg]], and also Chair of Plant Ecology, which included the management of the [[Botanischer Garten der Universität Würzburg|botanical garden]].
Lange retired in 1992.<ref name="Schulze 2018" /> He was married to the biologist Rose ([[née]] Wilhelm), and they had two daughters. Lange died on 14 August 2017 in Würzburg.<ref name="Büdel 2007"/>
==Career== ===Teaching=== Lange taught general botany, forest botany, forest genetics, plant systematics, general ecology, ecophysiology, vegetation and plant sociology at the universities of Göttingen, Darmstadt and Würzburg. He carried out identification exercises for [[higher plants]], [[mosses]], [[fungi]] and [[lichens]], and supervised experimental internships and excursions. He has taught as a [[visiting scholar]] at [[Utah State University]], in Australia at [[Australian National University]], and in China at [[Lanzhou University]].<ref name="Büdel 2007"/> Doctoral students Lange has supervised include [[Ludger Kappen]], {{ill|Burkhard Büdel|de}}, [[Roman Türk]] and {{ill|Volkmar Wirth|de}}. Lichenologists [[Thomas Hawkes Nash III|Thomas Nash]] and Allan Green have spent considerable time in his laboratory as guest researchers.<ref name="Kärnefelt & Seaward 2018"/>
===Research=== During Lange's 25 years at the University of Wurzburg he alternated long periods in the field with work analysing results back at the lab and writing scientific papers.<ref name="Kärnefelt 2009"/> The aim of his ecological-botanical research was to quantitatively record the behavior and reactions of wild and cultivated plants, as well as of lichens in their outdoor locations in the interplay with their environment.<ref name="Green 2019"/> Possibility of existence, distribution and productivity as a result of their morphological properties and their physiological functions were analyzed and causally interpreted. The [[water balance]] and [[photosynthesis|photosynthetic]] carbon gain were a focus of interest. A constant change between measurements and experiments in the field and working under controlled conditions in the laboratory, for example in [[Environmental chamber|climatic chambers]], was characteristic of such ecophysiological investigations. His research focused on plants and lichens in extreme growth areas from the [[Antarctic]] to the [[tropical rainforest]] in [[Panama]]. His investigations were both basic research and applied aspectd, such as [[irrigation]] cultures in desert areas (e.g. in the [[Negev]] desert in Israel), work on forest damage caused by [[air pollutant]]s, or the analysis of "[[biological soil crust]]s" as protection against [[erosion]] in arid areas. As exact ecophysiological metabolic measurements on plants under field conditions require a specially designed measurement method, Lange set up mobile field laboratories to continuously record photosynthesis and [[transpiration]] in plants. In cooperation with specialist companies (in particular, Heinz Walz GmbH), Lange developed special instruments, for example, air-conditioned [[cuvette]]s, and "porometers" to determine [[gas exchange]] and [[diffusion]] resistance of plants and lichens.<ref name="Nakashima et al. 2017"/>
===Publications=== Lange was [[editor]] and co-editor of (''[[Photosynthetica]]'' (1967–1995), ''[[Oecologia]]'' (1970–2007), ''[[Flora (journal)|Flora]]'' (1964–), ''[[Biochemie und Physiologie der Pflanzen]]'', ''[[Trees (journal)|Trees]]'' (1986–1998), ''[[Botanica Acta]]''(1987–91)), as well as the book series (Ecological Studies,<ref name="Nakashima et al. 2017"/> [[Man and the Biosphere Programme]]) and specialist books (e.g. 4 volumes of the ''Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology: Physiological Plant Ecology'', Springer-Verlag 1981–1983).
=== Memberships === 1976–1981: "Board of Trustees of the Academy for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management", Munich / Laufen 1981–1988: Founder and spokesman of the Würzburg DFG research group "Ecophysiology" 1982–1989: Founding member and advisory board member of the “Bavarian Forest Toxicology Research Group” of the Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture 1987–1990: Chairman of the "Arid Ecosystems Research Center" of the Hebrew University Jerusalem (Israel) 1989–1991: Speaker of the DFG [[Collaborative Research Centres|Collaborative Research Center]] 251 at the University of Würzburg "Ecology, Physiology and Biochemistry of Plant Performance under Stress"
==Recognition== ===Honours and awards===
*1967: The [[United States Board on Geographical Names]] named a {{convert|2,435|m}}-high mountain in the [[Admiralty Range]], South [[Victoria Land]], Antarctica, as "[[Lange Peak]]" in recognition of the research on lichen ecology at the [[American Hallet Station]], South Victoria Land *1972: Member of the [[German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]]<ref name="Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina 2020"/> *1974: [[Antarctic Service Medal]] from the United States Government<ref name="Büdel 2007"/> *1978: Member of the [[Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities]] *1978: Member of the [[Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities]] *1984: [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany|Federal Cross of Merit]] 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany *1986: [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize]] together with {{ill|Ulrich Heber|de}}, for contributions to photosynthesis<ref name="Kärnefelt & Seaward 2018"/> *1988: [[Balzan Prize]] for "applied botany including ecology" together with [[Michael Evenari]], [[Hebrew University Jerusalem]],<ref name="Balzanwinners"/> *1988: Honorary member of the [[Regensburg Botanical Society]] *1989: Member of the [[Academia Europaea]], London *1990: [[Adalbert Seifriz Prize]] for Technology Transfer (Stuttgart),<ref name="Nakashima et al. 2017"/> together with master electrician [[Heinz Walz]], [[Effeltrich]] *1991: [[Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea]], Salzburg, Austria *1991: [[Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art]]<ref name="Schulze 2018"/> *1991: Honorary member of the [[British Lichen Society]]<ref name="The British Lichen Society"/> *1992: Honorary member of the Gesellschaft für Mykologie und Lichenologie *1992: [[Acharius Medal]] of the International Association for Lichenology [6] *1993: Honorary member of the [[Society for Ecology]] *1994: Foreign honorary member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] *1995: Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences at the [[University of Bayreuth]] *1996: Honorary Doctorate from the [[Technical University of Lisbon]] *2001: Honorary Doctorate from the [[Technical University of Darmstadt]]<ref name="TUD"/> *2002: Honorary member of the [[German Botanical Society]] *2007: [[Eminent Ecologist Award]] from the [[Ecological Society of America]]<ref name="Ecological Society of America"/> *2012: Fellow of the Ecological Society of America *2014: Medal "Bene Merenti in Gold", in recognition of services to the University of Würzburg<ref name="Schulze 2018"/> *2015: [[Cothenius Medal]] of the [[German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina|Leopoldina]], for his outstanding botanical life's work<ref name="Schulze 2018"/>
''Ecological Studies'' Volume 100 was dedicated to Otto Lange’s retirement, while special volumes in lichenological journals also celebrated his 70th and 80th birthdays.<ref name="Schulze 2018"/>
===Eponymy=== The lichen species ''[[Peltula langei]]'' {{sm|Büdel & Elix (1997)}}, ''[[Hubbsia langei]]'' {{sm|Follmann (1997)}} and ''[[Jackelixia ottolangei]]'' {{sm|S.Y.Kondr., V.Wirth & Kärnefelt (2010)}}, as well as the genus ''[[Langeottia]]'' {{sm|S.Y.Kondr., Kärnefelt, Elix, A.Thell & Hur (2014)}}<ref name="Kondratyuk et al. 2014"/> were named after Otto Ludwig Lange.<ref name="Schulze 2018"/>
==Selected publications== Lange has published about 400 scientific articles, roughly half of which dealt with lichens.<ref name="Kärnefelt & Seaward 2018"/> About 170 of these were published after his retirement in 1992.<ref name="Kärnefelt 2009"/> A complete list of his scientific works can be found in Büdel's publication that celebrates his 80th birthday.<ref name="Büdel 2007"/> Some of his major works include the following:
*{{cite journal |last1=Lange |first1=Otto Ludwig |title=Hitze- und Trockenresistenz der Flechten in Beziehung zu ihrer Verbreitung |trans-title=Lichen resistance to heat and drought in relation to its distribution |journal=Flora oder Allgemeine Botanische Zeitung |volume=140 |issue=1 |year=1953 |pages=39–97 |doi=10.1016/S0367-1615(17)31917-1}} *{{cite journal |last1=Lange |first1=Otto Ludwig |last2=Schulze |first2=Ernst-Detlef |last3=Koch |first3=Werner |year=1970 |title=Experimentell-ökologische Untersuchungen an Flechten der Negev-Wüste. II. CO<sub>2</sub>-Gaswechsel und Wasserhaushalt von ''Ramalina maciformis'' (Del.) Bory am natürlichen Standort während der sommerlichen Trockenperiode |trans-title=Experimental ecological studies on lichens in the Negev desert: II. CO<sub>2</sub> gas exchange and water balance of ''Ramalina maciformis'' (Del.) Bory in its natural location during the summer dry period |journal=Flora |volume=159 |issue=1–2 |pages=38–62 |language=de |doi=10.1016/S0367-2530(17)31005-8}} *{{cite journal |last1=Lange |first1=O. L. |last2=Geiger |first2=I. L. |last3=Schulze |first3=E. -D. |title=Ecophysiological investigations on lichens of the Negev desert |journal=Oecologia |volume=28 |issue=3 |year=1977 |pages=247–259 |doi=10.1007/BF00751603|pmid=28309250 |bibcode=1977Oecol..28..247L |s2cid=35147555 }} *{{cite journal |last1=Schulze |first1=Ernst-Detlef |last2=Lange |first2=Otto Ludwig |title=Die Wirkungen von Luftverunreinigungen auf Waldökosysteme |trans-title=The effects of air pollution on forest ecosystems |journal=Chemie in unserer Zeit |volume=24 |issue=3 |year=1990 |pages=117–130 |doi=10.1002/ciuz.19900240306}} *{{cite journal |last1=Heber |first1=Ulrich |last2=Bilger |first2=Wolfgang |last3=Bligny |first3=Richard |last4=Lange |first4=Otto Ludwig |title=Phototolerance of lichens, mosses and higher plants in an alpine environment: analysis of photoreactions |journal=Planta |volume=211 |issue=6 |year=2000 |pages=770–780 |doi=10.1007/s004250000356|pmid=11144261 |bibcode=2000Plant.211..770H |s2cid=20384789 }} *{{cite journal |last1=Lange |first1=Otto L. |title=Photosynthetic productivity of the epilithic lichen ''Lecanora muralis'': long-term field monitoring of CO<sub>2</sub> exchange and its physiological interpretation |journal=Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants |volume=198 |issue=4 |year=2003 |pages=277–292 |doi=10.1078/0367-2530-00100}}
==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
<ref name="Balzanwinners">{{cite web |title=Michael Evenari e Otto Ludwig Lange - Bio-bibliography |website=Balzanwinners |publisher=International Balzan Prize Foundation |url=https://www.balzan.org/en/prizewinners/michael-evenari-and-otto-ludwig-lange/bio-bibliography-evenari-lange |access-date=18 September 2020}}</ref>
<ref name="Büdel 2007">{{cite journal |last1=Büdel |first1=Burkhard |title=Otto Ludwig Lange – 80 years: Eco-physiology – the key to understanding the function and distribution patterns of plants and lichens |journal=Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants |volume=202 |issue=8 |year=2007 |pages=590–607 |doi=10.1016/j.flora.2007.04.004|doi-access= |bibcode=2007FMDFE.202..590B }}</ref>
<ref name="Ecological Society of America">{{cite web |title=Eminent Ecologist Award – The Ecological Society of America's History and Records |website=The Ecological Society of America – The nation's largest community of professional ecologists |date=24 August 2013 |url=https://esa.org/history/eminent-ecologist-award/ |access-date=18 September 2020}}</ref>
<ref name="Green 2019">{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=T. G. Allan |title=A tribute to Otto Ludwig Lange (1927–2017) |journal=The Lichenologist |volume=51 |issue=1 |year=2019 |pages=1–5 |doi=10.1017/S0024282918000464|doi-access=free |bibcode=2019ThLic..51....1G }}</ref>
<ref name="Kärnefelt 2009">{{cite book |last1=Kärnefelt |first1=Ingvar |authorlink=Ingvar Kärnefelt |chapter=Fifty influential lichenologists |pages=283–368 (see pp. 314–315) |title=Diversity of Lichenology – Anniversary Volume |editor-last1=Thell |editor-first1=Arne |editor-last2=Seaward |editor-first2=Mark R. D. |editor-last3=Feuerer |editor-first3=Tassilo |year=2009 |series=Bibliotheca Lichenologica |publisher=J. Kramer |volume=100 |location=Stuttgart |isbn=978-3-443-58079-7}}</ref>
<ref name="Kärnefelt & Seaward 2018">{{cite journal |last1=Kärnefelt |first1=Ingvar |last2=Seaward |first2=Mark R. D. |title=Otto Ludwig Lange (1927-2017) |journal=Graphis Scripta |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=22–23 |url=https://portal.research.lu.se/ws/files/40998360/GS_30_22.pdf}}</ref>
<ref name="Kondratyuk et al. 2014">{{cite journal |last1=Kondratyuk |first1=S.Y. |first2=I. |last2=Karnefelt |first3=A. |last3=Thell |first4=J.A. |last4=Elix |first5=J. |last5=Kim |first6=M.-H. |last6=Jeong |first7=N.-N. |last7=Yu |first8=A.S. |last8=Kondratiuk |first9=J.-S. |last9=Hur |title=A revised taxonomy for the subfamily Xanthorioideae (Teloschistaceae, Ascomycota) based on molecular phylogeny |journal=Acta Botanica Hungarica |volume=56 |issue=1–2 |year=2014|doi=10.1556/ABot.56.2014.1-2.12 }}</ref>
<ref name="Nakashima et al. 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Nakashima |first1=Chiharu |last2=Dann |first2=Liz K. |last3=Shivas |first3=Roger G. |last4=Pegg |first4=Ken G. |last5=Lévesque |first5=C. André |last6=Redhead |first6=Scott A. |last7=Verkleij |first7=Gerard |last8=Green |first8=T. G. Allan |last9=Sancho |first9=Leopoldo G. |last10=Rothwell |first10=Gar W. |last11=Krings |first11=Michael |last12=Harper |first12=Carla J. |title=Awards and Personalia: Otto L. Lange — Pioneer lichen ecophysiologist (1927–2017) |journal=IMA Fungus |volume=8 |issue=2 |year=2017 |pages=53–60 |doi=10.1007/BF03449462 |doi-access=free|hdl=2262/95725 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina 2020">{{cite web |title=Leopoldina zeichnet zwei Akademie-Mitglieder mit Cothenius-Medaillen für ihr wissenschaftliches Lebenswerk aus (07.09.2015) |website=Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina |trans-title=Leopoldina awards two Academy members with Cothenius medals for their scientific life's work |date=14 July 2020 |url=https://www.leopoldina.org/en/de/press/press-releases/press-release/press/2335/ |language=de |access-date=18 September 2020}}</ref>
<ref name="Schulze 2018">{{cite book |last1=Schulze |first1=Ernst-Detlef |chapter=In Memoriam: Otto Ludwig Lange (1927–2017) |pages=v–vii |title=Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms |year=2018 |editor1-last=Glibert |editor1-first=Patricia M. |editor-link1=Patricia Glibert|editor2-last=Burford |editor2-first=Michele A. |editor3-last=Zhou |editor3-first=Mingjiang |editor4-last=Berdalet |editor4-first=Elisa |editor5-last=Pitcher |editor5-first=Grant C. |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-70069-4}}</ref>
<ref name="The British Lichen Society">{{cite web |title=People |website=The British Lichen Society |url=https://www.britishlichensociety.org.uk/the-society/people |access-date=18 September 2020}}</ref>
<ref name="TUD">{{cite web |last=Bal |first=Patrick |title=Honorary Doctorates. TU Darmstadt Honours and Awards |website=Technical University of Darmstadt |url=https://www.tu-darmstadt.de/universitaet/mitten_in_der_gesellschaft/geschichte_persoenlichkeiten/ehrendoktoruewrde/index.en.jsp |access-date=18 September 2020}}</ref>
}} {{Recipients of the Acharius Medal}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lange, Otto Ludwig}} [[Category:1927 births]] [[Category:2017 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century German botanists]] [[Category:German ecologists]] [[Category:German lichenologists]] [[Category:Acharius Medal recipients]] [[Category:Scientists from Dortmund]] [[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II]] [[Category:University of Göttingen alumni]] [[Category:Academic staff of the University of Göttingen]] [[Category:Academic staff of the University of Würzburg]] [[Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] [[Category:Recipients of the Cothenius Medal]]