Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming (3 November 1841 – 2 April 1924), known as Eugen Warming, was a Danish botanist and a pioneering figure in the development of ecology. In 1895 Warming published Plantesamfund, often regarded as the first textbook (1895) on plant ecology, and he taught an early university course in ecology. Ecologist Robert J. Goodland wrote in 1975: "If one individual can be singled out to be honoured as the founder of ecology, Warming should gain precedence."Goodland, R.J. (1975) The tropical origin of ecology: Eugen Warming’s jubilee. Oikos, 26, 240-245.
Warming wrote textbooks on botany, plant geography and ecology, which were widely read and translated into several languages. Notable works include Plantesamfund and Haandbog i den systematiske Botanik.
Early life and family life Warming was born on the small Wadden Sea island of Mandø as the only child of Jens Warming (1797–1844), a parish minister, and Anna Marie von Bülow af Plüskow (1801–1863). After the early death of his father, he moved with his mother to her brother in Vejle in eastern Jutland.
He married Johanne Margrethe Jespersen (known as Hanne Warming; 1850–1922) on 10 November 1871. They had eight children: Marie (1872–1947) married C. V. Prytz, Jens Warming (1873–1939), who became a professor in economy and statistics at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Fro (1875–1880), Povl (1877–1878), Svend Warming (1879–1982), engineer at Burmeister & Wain shipyard, Inge (1879–1893), Johannes (1882–1970), farmer, and Louise (1884–1964).Prytz, S. (1984) Warming – botaniker og rejsende. Lynge, Bogan. 197 pp. A personal account by Warming’s granddaughter, based on family-owned letters. External link: Ancestors and descendents
Education and career He attended high school at Ribe Katedralskole and commenced 1859 studies of natural history at the University of Copenhagen, but left university for three and a half years (1863–1866) to act as secretary for the Danish palaeontologist Peter Wilhelm Lund, who lived and worked in Lagoa Santa, Brazil. After his return to Europe, he studied for a year under K.F.P. Martius, Carl Nägeli and Ludwig Radlkofer in Munich and, in 1871, under J.L. von Hanstein in Bonn. Later in the same year (1871), he defended his Doctor of Philosophy thesis at Copenhagen.
The professorship in botany at the University of Copenhagen became vacant with the death of A.S. Ørsted and Warming was a candidate for the succession. However, he was passed over and the chair given to the older, but much less productive and original Ferdinand Didrichsen. Warming then became docent of botany at the University of Copenhagen, the polytechnic (Polyteknisk Læreanstalt) and the Pharmaceutical College 1873–1882. He became professor in botany at Stockholms högskola (later Stockholm University) 1882–1885. As the eldest professor, he was elected rector magnificus. In 1885, he became professor in botany at the University of Copenhagen and director of the Copenhagen Botanical Garden and held these positions until his retirement on 31 December 1910. He was rector magnificus of the University of Copenhagen 1907–1908.
He was a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters from 1878 to his death. As such, he served on the board of directors of the Carlsberg Foundation 1889-1921 and, because a biologist, on the board of the Carlsberg Laboratory. He also served on the board of the Geological Survey of Denmark 1895–1917.
Eugen Warming was a frequent visitor to foreign universities, e.g. a travel to Strasbourg and Paris in 1876 and another to Göttingen, Jena, Bonn, Strasbourg and Paris in 1880. He participated in several Scandinavian Scientist Conferences between 1868 and 1916 and in the similar German meeting in Breslau in 1874. He joined the International Botanical Congresses in Amsterdam 1877, in Vienna 1905 and in Brussels 1910 and was president of the ‘Association internationale des botanistes‘ (1913). He attended the Linnaeus celebration in Uppsala 1907 and the Darwin celebration in London 1908. He was honorary fellow of the Royal Society in London, was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1885 and honorary member of the Danish Botanical Society. He was a corresponding member of the botanical section of the French Academy of Sciences. He was made Commander 1st Degree of the Order of the Dannebrog, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and the Brazilian Imperial Order of the Rose. He is buried in Assistants Cemetery in Copenhagen.
Expeditions 1863-1866: Brazil, Lagoa Santa 1884 Greenland (Fylla expedition - view images on arktiskebilleder.dk 1885: Norway, Finnmark 1887: Norway, Dovre 1891-1892: Venezuela, Trinidad and the Danish West Indies 1895: Faroe Islands In addition, shorter visits to the Alps and other proximate destinations.
Plantesamfund ('Oecology of plants') The book Plantesamfund was based on Warming's lectures on plant geography at the University of Copenhagen. It gives an introduction to all major biomes of the world. Warming's aim, and his major lasting impact on the development of ecology, was to explain how nature solved similar problems (drought, flooding, cold, salt, herbivory, etc.) in similar way, despite using very different ‘raw material’ (species of different origin) in different regions of the world. This was an approach emphasizing functional explanations of plant communities, differing from prevalent floristic descriptions. Warming, E. (1895) Plantesamfund - Grundtræk af den økologiske Plantegeografi. P.G. Philipsens Forlag, Kjøbenhavn. 335 pp. The subtitle alludes to the title of the book Grundtræk af den almindelige Plantegeografi, published in 1822 (German edn 1823: Grundzüge einer allgemeinen Pflanzengeographie) by J. F. Schouw, co-founder of the scientific phytogeography.
Plantesamfund was translated to German in 1896 as Lehrbuch der ökologischen Pflanzengeographie—Eine Einführung in die Kenntnis der Pflanzenvereine by Emil Knoblauch. Berlin, Gebrüder Borntraeger, 1896. 412 pp. This edition, which was approved by Warming, went out of print. A second, unauthorized, edition was issued during 1902 by Paul Graebner, who put his own name after Warming's on the book's frontispiece, despite no changes to the contents. Lehrbuch der ökologischen Pflanzengeographie - Eine Einführung in die Kenntnis der Pflanzenvereine]; "Nach der neuesten Litteratur Vervollständigt bei Paul Graebner"; Berlin, Gebrüder Borntraeger. This edition was expanded in third and fourth editions: Warming, E. & Graebner, P. (1918) Eug. Warming's Lehrbuch der ökologischen Pflanzengeographie, 3 ed. Berlin, Gebrüder Borntrager. Fourth edn (1933) - 1158 pp. A Polish translation of ’Plantesamfund’ (from Knoblauch's German translation) appeared in 1900: Warming, E. (1900) Zbiorowiska Roślinne zarys ekologicznej geografii roślin by Edward Strumpf and Jósef Trzebiński. Warszawa, 1900. 451 pp. Two independent Russian (Moscow and St. Petersburg) editions appeared in 1901 and 1903 Вармингъ, Е. (1901) Ойкологическая географія растеній – Введеніе въ изученіе растительныхъ сообществъ by M. Golenkin and W. Arnol'di. Moskva, 542 pp. Вармингъ, Е. (1903) Распредъленіе растений въ зависимости отъ внъшнихъ условій—Экологическая географія растеній by A. G. Henkel' and with a treatise of the vegetation of Russia by G. I. Tanfil'ev. St. Petersburg, 474 pp. An extended and translated edition in English first appeared in 1909: Warming, E. with M. Vahl (1909) Oecology of Plants—an introduction to the study of plant-communities by P. Groom and I. B. Balfour. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 422 pp. (2nd edn 1925). The German ecologist A. F. W. Schimper published Pflanzengeographie auf physiologisher Grundlage in 1898. This work not only covered much of the same ground as Warming did in 1895 and 1896 but in fact also leaned heavily on Warming’s research. Schimper (1898) quoted extensively from more than 15 of Warming’s works and even reproduced Warming’s figures. Yet nowhere did Schimper acknowledge his profound debt to Warming, neither in the list of picture credits, nor in the acknowledgements section of the Vorwort, nor in his list of major sources, and not even in a footnote! ... Although replete with Warming’s data, it contains few ideas and did not advance ecology beyond what Warming had done earlier.
Warming as a teacher Warming authored university and school botany textbooks used in Denmark and abroad.
Handbook of systematic botany Warming's textbook on systematics for his lectures of botany in Copenhagen appeared in several editions and was translated to German, Russian and English and used in foreign universities. Warming, E. (1878) Haandbog i den systematiske Botanik (nærmest til Brug for Universitets-Studerende og Lærere). København. (2nd edn 1884; 3rd ed with Algae by N. Wille and fungi by E. Rostrup 1891). German edn. 1890: Handbuch der systematischen Botanik by E. Knoblauch (2nd edn 1902, 3rd edn 1911, 4th edn 1929 all by M. Möbius). Russian edn 1893: Систематика растеній (from the 3rd Danish edn by S. Rostovzev and M. Golenkin; 2nd edn 1898). English edn 1895: A handbook of systematic botany (by M.C. Potter; several editions, latest 1932). The section on seed plants was later expanded and issued as Warming Eug. (1912) Frøplanterne (Spermatofyter) [translated title: Seed Plants]. Kjøbenhavn, Gyldendalske Boghandel/Nordisk Forlag. 467 pp. (2nd edn 1933). The sections on spore plants were updated and published separately as Rosenvinge L. Kolderup (1913) Sporeplanterne (Kryptogamerne). Kjöbenhavn, Gyldendalske Boghandel/Nordisk Forlag. 388 pp.
Handbook of general botany Warming's textbook on plant morphology, anatomy and physiology was translated to Swedish and German: Warming Eug. Den almindelige Botanik: En Lærebog, nærmest til Brug for Studerende og Lærere [translated title: General Botany]. Kjøbenhavn, 1880. (2nd edn 1886; 3rd edn by Warming and Wilhelm Johannsen 1895; 4th edn by Warming and Johannsen 1900–01). Swedish edn 1882: Lärobok i allmän botanik (by Axel N. Lundström). German edn 1907-09: Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Botanik (from the 4th edn, by E. P. Meinecke). Berlin, Borntraeger. 667 pp.
Also, Warming's schoolbook on botany was used abroad: Warming Eug. (1900) Plantelivet: Lærebog i Botanik for Skoler og Seminarier [translated title: 'Plant Life']. København. (2nd edn 1902; 3rd edn 1905; 4th and 5th edns by C. Raunkiær and Warming 1908 and 1914, respectively; 6th edn (1920) by E. Warming and Johs. Boye Petersen). English edn 1911: Plant Life - A Text-book of Botany for Schools and Colleges (from the 4th edn by M.M. Rehling and E.M. Thomas). London. Russian edn 1904: Растение и его жизнь (Началный учебник ботаники). (from the 2nd edn by L.M. Krečotovič and M. Golenkin). Moskva. Dutch edns 1905, 1912 and 1919 Kern der plantkunde (by Dr. A.J.M. Garjeanne).
Excursions Warming felt a strong need to take students of botany out of the lecture theatre. He used the botanic garden to demonstrate live plants, but to teach plant ecology he needed students to get out in nature. The action radius from Copenhagen offered by trips by foot was far too small, however. He applied to the government and obtained a grant to take students on longer excursions every year from 1893; every third year these went to western Jutland, once to Bornholm, otherwise to Zealand. His excursion notes were published and are instructive introductions to the environment and plant adaptation in dunes, salt marshes and other habitats: Warming, E. (1890) Botaniske Exkursioner 1. Fra Vesterhavskystens Marskegne. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra den Naturhistoriske Forening i Kjøbenhavn 1890. Warming, E. (1891) Botaniske Exkursioner 2. De psammophile Formationer i Danmark. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra den Naturhistoriske Forening i Kjøbenhavn 1891: 153–202. Warming, E. (1891) Botaniske Exkursioner 3. Skarridsø. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra den Naturhistoriske Forening i Kjøbenhavn 1891.