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There are people who do science, there are people who make a career in science, and there are people who live science. Doris lived and loved her science, all of it, research, cooperation, education, communication, and she was really good at it. Why? Because there was so much more to her than intelligence, talent, and aspiration. Doris had a strong personality, she was a seasoned mother of two, affectionate, and open-hearted. She was incredibly good with people, she motivated and inspired her co-workers and students, and was able to transform a bunch of scientists into a well-organised, focused project team. And she could be really stubborn and persistent: actually, standing between her and her objective was not the best of ideas.
Doris was born June 22nd, 1957 in Lübeck, Germany. She studied Biology with a focus on plant physiology at the University Düsseldorf from 1976 to 1982. Doris entered the marine sciences with her Diploma thesis on Baltic shallow water marine vegetation, at the Institut für Meereskunde Kiel. She specialised on biological oceanography and obtained her Ph.D in 1988 with a thesis on carotenoids as biological markers for macro algae, supervised by Prof. S. Gerlach. From 1989 to 2000 Doris worked at the University Bremen in the research groups of Prof. H. Theede and Profs. G.O. Kirst and H.-O-Pörtner. In 1998 she obtained her Habilitation degree with a thesis on the effects of H2O2 on marine invertebrate metabolism. Doris joined the Alfred Wegener Institute in 2000, initially the section Benthic Biology of Prof. W.E. Arntz. She became a founding member of the new Section Functional Ecology in 2009 where she headed the working group Evolutionary Macroecology and served as deputy section head. During all these years, Doris lectured extensively at the University of Bremen and guided many students through their Bachelor, Master, and PhD projects.
Over the years, Doris’ scientific work developed in a remarkable manner. Starting from plant physiology and pigments, she dug deep into marine invertebrate physiology and became a leading expert in the physiology of ageing, particularly with her studies on the Ocean quahog Arctica islandica. Her work on the physiology of cold-water animals led her into Antarctic field work, mainly at the Argentine-German Dallmann laboratory on King George Island. This extraordinary working environment inspired Doris to refocus her scientific approach once again. She wanted to understand how such Antarctic coastal systems function as a whole and how they might fare under climate change. Doris being Doris did not do this in a half-hearted manner. She initiated and led several large international projects, making herself a name on collaboration across borders, particularly in South America. Both the “European-South American Antarctic climate change project (IMCOAST)” and the “EU Expertise network IMCONet” were a great success. The EU network “RISE CoastCarb” (2020–2025) and the project “DynAMo – Dynamic of ice mass loss impact in Andean Patagonia on marine and terrestrial ecosystems” (2019–2023) are in progress. Regrettably, both projects are hampered by Covid restrictions and this weighs especially hard when her progressing illness made it impossible for Doris to fully engage in this exciting endeavour and to reap the fruits of her enthusiasm.
Doris left us prematurely on November 21st, 2021, passing away peacefully, finally losing her long battle against cancer. With Doris, we lost a compassionate human, an excellent scientist, an inspiring leader, and a commendable colleague. We consider it an honour and a privilege to have worked with her for such a long time. We’ll miss but we will never forget Doris Abele.
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Jerosch, K., Wiltshire, K. & Brey, T. Doris Abele (1957–2021). Polar Biol 45, 161–162 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02985-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02985-3