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Carl Georg Johannes Petersen (24 October 1860 – 11 May 1928) was a
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...
, especially fisheries biologist. He was the first to describe communities of
benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...
marine
invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
and is often considered a founder of modern fisheries research. Especially he was the first to use the
Mark and recapture Mark and recapture is a method commonly used in ecology to estimate an animal population's size where it is impractical to count every individual. A portion of the population is captured, marked, and released. Later, another portion will be captur ...
method which he used to estimate the size of a Plaice population. The Lincoln-Petersen method (also known as the Petersen-Lincoln index) is named after him and
Frederick Charles Lincoln Frederick Charles Lincoln (5 May 1892 – 16 September 1960) was an American ornithologist. Early life and family Lincoln was born on 5 May 1892 in Denver, Colorado. Career As a teenager working at the Colorado Museum of Natural History in 19 ...
who first described the method in 1930. Southwood, T.R.E. & Henderson, P. (2000) ''Ecological Methods'', 3rd edn. Blackwell Science, Oxford.Petersen, C. G. J. (1896) "The Yearly Immigration of Young Plaice Into the Limfjord From the German Sea", ''Report of the Danish Biological Station (1895)'', 6, 5–84.


Biography

C.G.J. Petersen studied natural history at the
University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...
under professor
Japetus Steenstrup Johannes Japetus Smith Steenstrup FRS(For) HFRSE (8 March 1813 – 20 June 1897) was a Danish zoologist, biologist, and professor. Life Born in Vang, Thy on 8 March 1813, he held a lectorate in mineralogy in Sorø until 1845 when he became a ...
. He participated in expeditions 1883-1886 and sampled the
benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...
fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...
in
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
waters systematically. In 1889, he co-founded ''Dansk biologisk Station'', which was a mobile laboratory in a former naval transport vessel that was put in a new location every spring and anchored for the summer. His research was primarily directed towards understanding the
ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps w ...
– not the least feeding ecology – and distribution of fish species and to provide the fundament for an evidence-based fisheries policy. Nevertheless, today he is mainly remembered for his significant contribution to the development of the community concept for marine
benthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.

References


Further reading

* Spärck, R. (1932) C.G. Johannes Petersen, pp. 186–189 in: ''Meisen, V. Prominent Danish Scientists through the Ages'' (University Library of Copenhagen 450th Anniversary. Levin & Munksgaard, Copenhagen) 1860 births 1928 deaths University of Copenhagen alumni Danish ecologists Danish marine biologists Danish scientists {{Biologist-stub