Life in the Cerrado

a South American Tropical Seasonal Ecosystem

The authors

Gerhard Gottsberger

was born 30 December 1940 in Judenburg, Austria. He studied biology, geology, chemistry, pedagogy and philosophy at the University of Graz (1959-1963). His Ph.D. thesis (defended in 1966) dealt with the biology, reproduction and phytogeography of Myxomycetes in the province of Styria.

From 1966 to 1968, funded by several grants from Brazilian institutions, he worked at the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Botanical Institute of the Secretary of Agriculture of São Paulo State. At the end of 1968, he became a professor of Systematic Botany in the Department of Botany at the University of Botucatu (UNESP), where he remained until 1981 when he moved to the Federal University of Maranhão in São Luís as a professor in the Biology Department.

Two years later, he accepted a position as professor and director of the Botanical Garden in the Institute of Botany and Plant Physiology at the University of Giessen, Germany (1983-1993). Since 1993 he holds the chair of the Department of Systematic Botany and Ecology at the University of Ulm, where he is also director of the Botanical Garden and the herbarium (ULM). He was a visiting scientist (1971) at the University of Nijmegen and a visiting professor at the Universities of Vitória (1979), Rio de Janeiro (1979) and Vienna (1974, 1976, 1980). Since 1980, he has been a professor and staff member of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) and the Federal University of Amazonas in Manaus. His research interests center on plant evolution, reproductive biology (pollination and seed dispersal), and tropical ecosystems.

Ilse Silberbauer-Gottsberger

was born 11 June 1940 in Graz, Austria. She studied biology, mineralogy, geology, pedagogy, psychology and physical education at the University of Graz (1958-1963) and earned a teacher's diploma (Master of Science). Her Ph.D. thesis (defended in 1965) dealt with vertebrate cerebellum neurotransmitters.

From 1965 to 1967, she taught biology at a secondary school in Leibnitz, Styria, and from 1967 to 1969, biology, physics and chemistry at the Colégio Humboldt in São Paulo. From the end of 1969 to 1981, she was a professor of Systematic Botany in the Department of Botany at the University of Botucatu (UNESP), and from 1981 to 1983, professor in the Biology Department at the Federal University of Maranhão in São Luís.

Moving to Germany in 1983, she became an Associate Scientist at the Institute of Botany and Plant Physiology at the University of Giessen. Since 1993, she has been working as a researcher and staff member in the Department of Systematic Botany and Ecology at the University of Ulm and as a curator in the herbarium (ULM). Her research interests center on phytosociology and phytogeography of tropical vegetation, and reproductive biology (including pollination and seed dispersal).