Kurt Jax is a senior scientist at the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, in Leipzig, Germany, and Professor of Ecology at the Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management of the Technische Universitat Munchen, Munich. He was educated as a freshwater ecologist. Having gained experience in research and conservation projects in freshwater, terrestrial and marine environments, he now focuses on the conceptual foundations of ecology and conservation biology, a field in which he has done research for two decades. His special emphasis is on the application of ecological concepts as