Biographical note

Dr. Götz-Bodo Reinicke has been a scientific staff member at the Deutsches Meeresmuseum in Stralsund since 1998, serving as the curator for marine ecology, specifically overseeing cnidarians, mollusks, and echinoderms. His role encompasses managing exhibitions related to marine ecology, with a focus on coral reefs, and supervising collections of invertebrate animals. Additionally, he mentors students and interns and is the editor-in-chief of the publication "MEER UND MUSEUM." Dr. Reinicke's research interests include the taxonomy, diversity, and biogeography of soft and stony corals, particularly within the Indo-Pacific and North Atlantic regions. He also investigates the long-term dynamics, ecological changes, and conservation of coral reefs, utilizing data from the Red Sea dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s to monitor environmental changes in Jordanian and Sudanese reefs. His academic journey began with a biology degree from the University of Hamburg (1982-1988), where he completed a thesis on the distribution of benthos and sediment parameters in the freshwater mudflats of the Elbe island Neßsand. In 1988, he became a certified research diver. He then pursued doctoral studies at the University of Essen (1989-1993), focusing on "Xeniidae of the Red Sea (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea) – Contributions to Systematics and Ecology." Between 1994 and 1997, Dr. Reinicke worked as a scientific assistant at the Institute for Ecology at the University of Essen, engaging in projects across Jordan, Egypt, the Chagos Archipelago, Algeria, and the Philippines. Throughout his career, Dr. Reinicke has participated in various projects in Yemen, Australia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, contributing significantly to the field of marine ecology. Klement Tockner is president of the Austrian Science Fund – FWF, full professor of Aquatic Ecology at the Freie Universität Berlin and former director of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin. He received a PhD from the University of Vienna (1993) and a Titulary Professorship at ETH (2005). He is an internationally leading freshwater scientist, in particular in the research domains biodiversity, ecosystem science and environmental management. He was Editor in Chief of the journal Aquatic Sciences and is Subject Editor of the journal Ecosystems. He has published more than 250 scientific papers including 150 ISI papers. In 2009, he edited a comprehensive book on European Rivers (Rivers of Europe, Elsevier). Klement Tockner has successfully managed large inter- and transdisciplinary projects such as the EC-funded project BioFresh (www.freshwaterbiodiversity.eu). He is member of several scientific committees and advisory boards and elected member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Germany Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina.