Romuald Zdzisław Klekowski was a Polish biologist, ecologist, hydrobiologist, oceanologist and member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was known for research in ecological bioenergetics, hydrobiology, mathematical modelling and polar ecology, and helped organize Polish Antarctic research.
Background
Romuald Zdzisław Klekowski was born on January 1, 1924, in Pińsk, then in northeastern Poland and now in Belarus. During the Second World War he was an anti-Nazi partisan in the Armia Krajowa; in 1944 the group with which he served was incorporated into the Soviet Red Army. He later settled in Warsaw. He was married first to the biologist and zoologist Zuzanna Stromenger and later to Krystyna Ramlau, a long-serving National Library specialist and head of its Bibliographic Institute from 1979 to 1993. He had two children, Michał, born in 1961, and Marta, born in 1968.
Education
Klekowski studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Łódź, where he completed his master's work in 1950. He received his doctorate in 1961 and habilitation in 1966. He became an associate professor in 1970 and a full professor in 1978. His academic development was closely connected with experimental hydrobiology, ecological bioenergetics and the application of quantitative methods to ecological research.
Career
Klekowski began his academic career at the University of Łódź, where he worked from 1945 to 1952, first as an assistant and later as an adjunct and lecturer in zoology and comparative anatomy. In 1952 he joined the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where he headed the Department of Experimental Hydrobiology and subsequently the Department of Ecological Bioenergetics. He served as deputy director of the institute from 1970 to 1973 and remained associated with its ecological bioenergetics research through 1975.
From 1973 to 1982 Klekowski was director of the Institute of Ecology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He headed its Department of Ecological Bioenergetics from 1975 to 1990 and coordinated the national research programme on the ecological foundations of environmental management from 1973 to 1985. From 1965 to 1998 he was editor-in-chief of the journal Polskie Archiwum Hydrobiologii. He contributed to the development of Polish polar research from the late 1960s, helped organize research connected with the Polish Antarctic Station, took part in four Arctic field seasons including work on Spitsbergen, and led Polish groups during six oceanographic voyages in the Atlantic, Antarctic, Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.
Within the Polish Academy of Sciences, Klekowski served as deputy secretary of the Biological Sciences Division in 1970–1973 and 1984–1986, secretary of the division from 1987 to 1995, and a member of the Academy Presidium from 1987 to 1995. He was a corresponding member of the Academy from 1979 and a full member from 1994. From 1996 he was a professor at the International Centre for Ecology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Łomianki. He also served as director of the Institute of Ecology, chaired the Scientific Council of the Department of Antarctic Biology from 1992 to 2002, and participated in the work of the Central Commission for Scientific Titles and Degrees.
His research concerned ecological bioenergetics of poikilothermic animals, hydrobiology, oceanology, ecological physiology, polar ecosystems, energy budgets during individual development and mathematical and computer modelling of ecological processes. He taught ecological bioenergetics at the University of Warsaw and at the Agricultural and Technical Academy in Olsztyn. Klekowski died in Warsaw on May 5, 2015.
Achievements
Helped organize and develop Polish Antarctic research, including research associated with the Polish Antarctic Station.
Advanced the use of ecological bioenergetics and mathematical and computer modelling in hydrobiology and ecology.
Served as editor-in-chief of Polskie Archiwum Hydrobiologii from 1965 to 1998.
Directed the Institute of Ecology of the Polish Academy of Sciences from 1973 to 1982 and coordinated a national programme on the ecological foundations of environmental management from 1973 to 1985.
Works
Academic book
Modelowanie matematyczne procesów ekologicznych
(Co-authored work on mathematical modelling of ecological ...)
(Edited with Zofia Fischer; a Polish academic work on ecol...)
1993
Journal Article
Bioenergetic Budgets and Their Application for Estimation of Production Efficiency
(Article published in Polskie Archiwum Hydrobiologii, volu...)
1970
Respiratory Metabolism of Some Pelagic Copepods from the Equatorial Countercurrent of the Indian Ocean
(Co-authored with L. I. Sazhina and published in Polskie A...)
1985
Membership
Klekowski was a member of the Societas Internationalis Limnologiae from 1950 and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, becoming a corresponding member in 1979 and a full member in 1994. He served on scientific councils of the Institute of Ecology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Centre of Marine Biology and the Department of Antarctic Biology, which he chaired. He was a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences Committee for Polar Research from 1992, the Committee of Ecology from 1993, the Belarusian Academy of Sciences from 1995 and the National Geographic Society from 1997. He also served on the supervisory board of the Homo et Planta Foundation.
Corresponding member from 1979 and full member from 1994.
Polish Academy of Sciences
1979
Foreign member from 1995.
Belarusian Academy of Sciences
1995
Member from 1950.
Societas Internationalis Limnologiae
1950
Member from 1997.
National Geographic Society
1997
Interests
Polar research, oceanographic expeditions, hydrobiology and ecological modelling.
Connections
Klekowski's family connections included his first wife, Zuzanna Stromenger, a biologist and zoologist, and his second wife, Krystyna Ramlau, a National Library bibliographer and former head of its Bibliographic Institute. He had two children, Michał and Marta. His scientific connections included long-term collaboration with Polish Academy of Sciences institutions, Polish polar-research groups and international hydrobiological and ecological researchers.
Father:
Aleksander
Mother:
Janina
Wife:
Zuzanna Stromenger
First wife; biologist and zoologist.
Wife:
Krystyna Ramlau
Second wife; National Library bibliographer and former head of its Bibliographic Institute.
Son:
Michał Klekowski
Son, born in 1961.
Daughter:
Marta Klekowska
Daughter, born in 1968.
References
Romuald Zdzisław Klekowski (1924–2015)
Memorial article describing Klekowski's scientific work in hydrobiology, ecological bioenergetics and mathematical modelling, his Polish Academy of Sciences service and his participation in Antarctic and oceanographic research.
2015
Romuald Zdzisław Klekowski (1924–2015)
Polish Academy of Sciences memorial profile documenting his career, institutional leadership, polar research and scientific contributions.
2015
Polish Biographical Guide
Bibliographic entry identifying Klekowski as a hydrobiologist and co-author of Korzenie i Wielkie wody.
2012
Klekowski Crag
Antarctic Gazetteer entry documenting that Klekowski Crag was named in honor of Professor Romuald Z. Klekowski, director of the Institute of Ecology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
