Klaus Rohde


Klaus Rohde is a German biologist at the University of New England, Australia, known particularly for his work on marine parasitology, evolutionary ecology/zoogeography, and phylogeny/ultrastructure of lower invertebrates.

Early life and education

Rohde studied zoology, botany, physics, physiological chemistry in Potsdam from 1950–1952, and, after moving from East- to West-Germany, in Münster/Westfalen from 1953–1956.
He received the degree of Dr.rer.nat. at University of Münster in 1956 for a thesis on the behaviour and physiology of Paramecium. Subsequently,, he did scientific work at ASTA-Werke, Brackwede/Westfalen on the development of new tests for screening anthelminthic drugs.

Career

From 1960–1967, Rohde was a lecturer at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, conducting work on the taxonomy, life cycles and fine structure of trematodes and monogeneans and supervising BSc. Honours, MSc. and PhD candidates. He participated in expeditions to various parts of Malaysia and visited many countries in Eastern, Southeastern, Southern Asia, and America.
From 1967 to 1970 he was a Research Fellow at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Habilitation in Bochum was successfully concluded in 1970 with a thesis on the morphology, life cycle and ultrastructure of the aspidogastrean Multicotyle purvisi.
He moved to Australia in 1970 to assume a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Queensland, Australia, with research on the taxonomy, ecology, life cycles and ultrastructure of the aspidogastrean Lobatostoma manteri and various monogenea. During this period, he visited the Great Barrier Reef as part of his work. In 1972 he was Reader in Zoology at the University of Khartoum, Sudan.
1973–1976 he was Director of the Heron Island Research Station, Great Barrier Reef, conducting research on the taxonomy and ecology of Monogenea and Aspidogastrea. The University of Queensland awarded him the degree of DSc. in 1975 for his parasitological and zoological work. In 1976 he was appointed Lecturer at the University of New England, Australia, subsequently promoted to Associate Professor and Professor. In 2001 he became Professor emeritus.

Research and work

Rohde's main research fields are fine structure, ecology, zoogeography, parasitology, and phylogeny of invertebrates, particularly of Aspidogastrea, Monogenea, Amphilinidea, and general aspects of ecology and zoogeography. He supervised many BSc.Honours, MSc. and PhD candidates in these fields, and, jointly with Tim Littlewood at the Natural History Museum London, Nikki Watson, UNE and others, studied the phylogeny of Platyhelminthes, using ultrastructure, life cycle and DNA data.
His most important scientific contributions are on the following topics:
Rohde was the first who supplied quantitative evidence for the enormous species diversity of marine parasites in tropical waters, and for differences in latitudinal gradients between endo- and ectoparasites. His hypothesis of effective evolutionary time was an important stimulus for the development of the metabolic theory of ecology. His work on the phylogeny of Platyhelminthes provided evidence that the Neodermata have split early off the other flatworm groups. His demonstration of the great number and variety of sensory receptors and of the great complexity of nervous systems in some parasitic flatworms is convincing evidence that sacculinization of parasites is not a general phenomenon. Rohde's work on the ecology of marine parasites has shown that most parasites live in largely non-saturated niche space, i.e., that most niches are vacant; proceeding from these findings, he concluded that equilibrium conditions in animal communities are the exception rather than the rule.
After retirement he continues to publish scientific papers and books. He has cooperated with Dietrich Stauffer, a theoretical physicist, in using mathematical models to investigate latitudinal gradients in species diversity and niche width. He is running two blogs with articles and posts on science, politics and philosophy and.

Honors

Rohde lived and worked in Münster/Westfalen, Brackwede/Bielefeld, Bochum, Kuala Lumpur, Khartoum, Heron Island and Brisbane. He now lives in Armidale.

Books

The first edition of Ecology of Marine Parasites, University of Queensland Press 1982, has been translated into Malay-Indonesian: Ekologi Parasit Laut, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur.

Selected papers and book chapters