Uwe Kils

Uwe Kils (b. July 10, 1951) is a German marine biologist specializing in Antarctic biology. Working under marine biologist and oceanographer Gotthilf Hempel at the Leibniz Institute for Oceanography, now the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, in May 1979, Kils obtained his doctorate in marine biology focusing on the behaviour and physiology of krill in Antarctica graduating summa cum laude and opus eximium. His dissertation was translated and published in English as a book.

Career

His work led to the development of instruments for in situ observation of underwater fauna, including the ecoSCOPE and the first software for full speed video processing. Later work at Kiel included the study of predator-prey interactions of juvenile herring and plankton, for which a floating laboratory was built called ATOLL The ATOLL was composed of three curved fiberglass elements, each 25 m long and having a draught of only 38 cm. For towing, the elements could be assembled in a long S-shape; in operation, the elements would form a horseshoe shape surrounding 150 m² water surface and was developed and deployed in the Bay of Kiel. Work there led to Kils' involvement in an initiative to repopulate the Flensburg Fjord with herring as part of the project Saubere Ostsee ("Clean Baltic"). His work was honored by the Heinz Maier Leibnitz Prize.

Subsequently, Kils was invited by the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University. He programmed the virtual microscope, worked with glasseels at the project Longterm Ecological Observatory, and created the eelBASE web server. He recently retired from a position as associate professor of marine science at Rutgers University.

Some photos by Kils

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  Photomontage of an iceberg
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  Amphipod
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  Compound eye of the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba
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  Schooling herrings
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  Antarctic krill filter feeding
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  Larvae of an icefish
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  Living leptocephalus, looking like glass, never imaged before
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  Planctonic polychaete worm from genus Tomopteris.

Selected publications

• Kils, U.: "Swimming Behavior, Swimming Performance, and Energy Balance of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba", translation of Ph.D. thesis in German from 1979, College Station, Texas; 1981. Available free via Wikisource
• Kils, U., Klages, N. (1979) "Der Krill" Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau, 10: 397-402.
• Kils, U. (1987) "Verhaltensphysiologische Untersuchungen an pelagischen Schwärmen - Schwarmbildung als Strategie zur Orientierung in Umwelt-Gradienten. Bedeutung der Schwarmbildung in der Aquakultur", (Habilitation), Universität Kiel, Ber Inst Meereskunde, Kiel 163: 1-168.
• Kils, U. (1983) Swimming and feeding of Antarctic Krill, Euphausia superba - some outstanding energetics and dynamics - some unique morphological details. In: Berichte zur Polarforschung, Alfred-Wegener-Institut fuer Polarforschung, Sonderheft 4 (1983). On the biology of Krill Euphausia superba, Proceedings of the Seminar and Report of Krill Ecology Group, ed. S. B. Schnack, 130 - 155
• Kils, U., Marschall, P. (1995) "Der Krill, wie er schwimmt und frisst - neue Einsichten mit neuen Methoden" (The Antarctic krill - feeding and swimming performances - new insights with new methods). In: Hempel, I., Hempel, G., Biologie der Polarmeere - Erlebnisse und Ergebnisse. Gustav Fischer Jena - Stuttgart - New York, 201 - 207
• Kils, U., (2006) "So frisst der Krill" How krill feeds. In: Hempel, G., Hempel, I., Schiel, S., Faszination Meeresforschung, Ein oekologisches Lesebuch. Hauschild Bremen, 112-115.

External links

• Publication list
• Short CV