Johann Goldammer

Goldammer was born in Marburg (Germany), first son of Kurt Goldammer, professor for religious studies and history of religion and religious art at Philipps University of Marburg, and Inge Rodewald. His godfather Friedrich Heiler, was theologian and predecessor of his father. With his sisters Anna Katharina and Magdalena and his brother Christopher, he grew up in Marburg and Amöneburg and graduated at the Gymnasium Philippinum in Marburg in 1968. During the late 1960s, Oberforstmeister Dr. Johann Georg Hasenkamp, became his mentor motivating Goldammer to study forest sciences[1]. In 1968, Goldammer was engaged in Israel in the reconciliation campaign between Germany and Israel in assisting recovery after the 1967 Six-Day War.

In 1968, Goldammer joined the German Army. Transferred to the German Navy in 1969, he became member of Crew X/68. After graduation at the Naval Academy Marineschule Mürwik , including the serving on the training ships Gorch Fock and Deutschland he assumed duties as officer on minesweepers and minehunters. After terminating his active service in 1972, he served in the naval reserve and became the first reserve officer in the rank of Kapitänleutnant of the German Navy qualified for assuming the function of commanding officer of minesweepers and minehunters, initially on minesweeper WEILHEIM[2] under supervision of Vice Admiral and Commander in Chief, German Navy, Lutz Feldt, followed by assignments of commanding officer of minesweepers and minehunters: WEILHEIM (1976), KONSTANZ (1976, 1980), DÜREN (1977), MARBURG (1979, 1983), KOBLENZ (1981), VÖLKLINGEN (1982), ULM (1982) and FLENSBURG (1983). Towards the end of his naval career, he served as minesweeper / minehunter division commander and in the military attaché service. He was promoted to Frigate Captain (Fregattenkapitän) in 1993 and served the NATO Partnership for Peace (1997) and as honorary judge, German Armed Forces Military Court (2008). In 1985, he was awarded the Silver Cross of Honour of the German Armed Forces.

Between 1972 and 1977, Goldammer studied forest sciences at Freiburg University (Germany). His diploma thesis "Fire Ecology” was based on research in the USA (Tall Timbers Research Station) in 1974/75. Between 1977 and 1979 he joined the State Forest Service of Hesse (Germany) and qualified for State Forester (Assessor des Forstdienstes) in 1979. By returning to Freiburg University, he established the Fire Ecology Research Group in 1979[3]. In 1983, he was awarded the degree of Doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) (PhD in Forest Science) of Freiburg University based on his research “Sicherung des südbrasilianischen Kiefernanbaus durch kontrolliertes Brennen” (Securing Pine Plantations in Southern Brazil by Prescribed Burning), followed by Habilitation and appointment to adjunct professor for fire ecology (2001). In 1990, the Fire Ecology Research Group of Freiburg University merged with the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and remained at the Airport Campus of Freiburg University since then.

Goldammer initiated the first experiments and scientific publications on the use of prescribed fire in reducing wildfire hazard reduction in 1977 in Europe[4], followed by the use of prescribed fire in the maintenance and restoration of natural and cultural fire-dependent or otherwise adapted ecosystems and landscapes in the Eurasian region[5]. He initiated, led or supported national and international research campaigns, notably under the frame of the Biomass Burning Experiment (BIBEX): Impact of Fire on the Atmosphere and Biosphere – a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) project under the aegis of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry initiated by Meinrat O. Andreae[6].

Among other, BIBEX included the Southern African Fire-Atmosphere Research Initiative (SAFARI) for which he served as co-coordinator with Meinrat O. Andreae (1991-1996). Starting in 1991, he is serving as coordinator of the Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN), which includes the 200-years Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment (1993-2192)[7]. With Nobel laureate Paul J. Crutzen he convened the Dahlem Conference “Fire in the Environment: The Ecological, Atmospheric, and Climatic Importance of Vegetation Fires” (1992). The publication was followed 20 years later by the White Paper on Vegetation Fires and Global Change directed to the United Nations and International Organizations (2013)[8].

Reviewed journal and book submissions:

• Wildfires and Forest Development in Tropical and Subtropical Asia: Prospective outlook towards the year 2000 In: Proc. Symp. Wildland Fire 2000, April 27–30, 1987, South Lake Tahoe, Cal., 164-176. USDA For.Ser. Gen. Techn. Rep. PSW-101, 258 p.
• International Issues: Report of Futuring Group 9. In: Proc. Symp. Wildland Fire 2000, April 27–30, 1987, South Lake Tahoe, Cal., 256-258. USDA For. Ser. Gen. Techn. Rep. PSW-101, 258 p.
• Rural land-use and fires in the tropics. Agroforestry Systems 6, 235-252.
• Natural rain forest fires in Eastern Borneo during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Naturwissenschaften 76, 518-520.
• Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges. Ecological Studies 84, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 497 p.
• Fire in tropical ecosystem and global environmental change. In: Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges (J.G.Goldammer, ed.), 1-10. Ecological Studies 84, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 497 p.
• The impact of droughts and forest fires on tropical lowland rain forest of Eastern Borneo. In: Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges (J.G.Goldammer, ed.), 11-31. Ecological Studies 84, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 497 p.
• The role of fire in the tropical lowland deciduous forests of Asia. In: Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges (J.G.Goldammer, ed.), 32-44. Ecological Studies 84, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 497 p.
• Fire in the pine-grassland biomes of tropical and subtropcal Asia. In: Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges (J.G.Goldammer, ed.), 45-62. Ecological Studies 84, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 497 p.
• Prescribed burning in industrial pine plantations. In: Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges (J.G.Goldammer, ed.), 216-272. Ecological Studies 84, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 497 p.
• Global change: effects on forest ecosystems and wildfire severity. In: Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges (J.G.Goldammer, ed.), 463-486. Ecological Studies 84, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 497 p.
• Fire in ecosystem dynamics. Mediterranean and northern perspectives. SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague, 199 p.
• The role of fire in the montane-boreal coniferous forest of Daxinganling, Northeast China: A preliminary model. In: Fire in ecosystem dynamics. Mediterranean and northern perspectives (J.G. Goldammer and M.J.Jenkins, eds.), 175-184. SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague, 199 p.
• Waldumwandlung und Waldverbrennung in den Tiefland-Regenwäldern des Amazonasbeckens: Ursachen und ökologische Implikationen. In: Amazonien: Versuch einer interdisziplinären Annäherung (A. Hoppe, ed.), 119-142. Ber. Naturforsch. Ges. Freiburg 80, 264 p.
• Tropical wildland fires and global changes: Prehistoric evidence, present fire regimes, and future trends. In: Global biomass burning (J.S. Levine, ed.), 83-91 (Chapter 10). The MIT Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

• Complete list of Goldammer's publications