Christian Vaupell

Christian Theodor Vaupell (1821-1862) was a Danish botanist and forester. He was a student of Japetus Steenstrup and a teacher of botany at the University of Copenhagen to the young Eugen Warming[1].

Vaupell did macrofossil analysis of peat deposits and showed that in the Holocene development of temperate forest communities in Denmark, Betula was the chief early pioneer, followed by Pinus and Quercus and finally Fagus, which dominates today. These investigations pioneered the study of ecological succession[2].

Selected works

Vaupell, C. (1851) De nordsjællandske Skovmoser. En botanisk-mikroskopisk Undersøgelse af de Plantedele, som danne Tørven og af de Levninger af Fortidens Skove, der ere bevarede i nogle nordsjællandske Skovmoser (Wooded Bogs in Northern Zealand - a botanical-microscopic investigation of the plant parts that make up the peat and of the remains of past forests that are preserved in some wooded bogs in northern Zealand).

The standard author abbreviation Vaupell is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.[3]

References

  1. ^ Prytz, S. (1984) Warming – botaniker og rejsende. Lynge, Bogan. 197 pp.
  2. ^ Cowles, Henry C. (1911) The causes of vegetational cycles. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 1 (1): 3-20 [1]
  3. ^ "Author Query". International Plant Names Index. http://www.ipni.org/ipni/authorsearchpage.do.