Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
56 Historical survey an article and a separate publication in 1994 (SZINETÁR 1994a and 1994b). He also published a comprehensive account of the Vas County length of the Rába Valley (SZINETÁR 1999). Fertő, as Europe's westernmost steppe lake, has great limnological and faunistic importance (FRIVALDSZKY 1865; ENTZ 1900; HORVÁTH 1917; SOÓS 1934;MAZEKFIALLA 1936). Notable work on it was done on the Hungarian side by LAJOS VARGA up to the 1960s and by staff of the Tihany Biological Research Institute and the National Agricultural Quality-Control Institute. Intensive research started on the Austrian side early in the 1960s under the International Biological Programme. Hydrobiological research on the Hungarian side gained impetus from a government order on development of the Fertő district and the Fertő District Committee consequently convened by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Research into the lake became an important part of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' plan for biosphere research. 149 The Fertő District Committee published scientific findings on the district in six volumes of Situation Report Studies in 1969-73. It was decided to compile 'data collections' from 26 fields as a preliminary to an eventual 'district monograph'. The data collection was made in 1971-3. Volume 3 covering the flora and fauna was published as The Biosphere of the Fertő District, with a summary of the data published up to that time (AUJESZKY et al. 1975). The zoological data were compiled by SÁNDOR ANDRIKOVICS and ÁRPÁD BERCZIK, who confined themselves to species with reliable location data, while pointing to the blank spots in research into major groups. They included all the animal species for Fertő shown in the literature at the time (ANDRIKOVICS and BERCZIK 1975). A most valuable aid to research on Fertő was a bibliography compiled by WALDEMÁR LÁSZLÓFFY et al. (1972). Fertő has featured in the life's work of many outstanding researchers in countless fields. On the Austrian side of the lake, staff at the Biological Research Institute for Burgenland (Biologisches Forschungsinstitut für Burgenland) have been making decisively important studies for almost four decades on Fertő and on the Austrian sub-Alpine region. The volume and signifi-cance of their research and cross-border research make it appropriate to name here particularly STEPHAN (ISTVÁN) AUMÜLLER 150 and ANTAL FESTETICS. 149 PiCHLER, J. 1972. A Fertő-táj üdülővidékké alakítása és tudományos feltárása (Conversion of the Fertő district into a holiday area and scientific exploration of it). Soproni Szemle 26:99-115; BERCZIK, A. 1973. A hidrobiológiái kutatások helyzete és feladatai Magyarországon (The state and tasks of hydrobiological research in Hungary). Állattani Közlemények 60:55-65; ZÁDOR, А. 1975. A Fertő-táj múltja és jövője (Past and present of the Fertő district). Soproni Szemle 39:321-37; PICHLER, J. 1981. A Fertő-táj tudományos kutatási terve II. (The scientific research plan for the Fertő district II). Soproni Szemle 35:129-41. 150 STEPHAN (ISTVÁN) AUMÜLLER (1903-1988) was a researcher who strongly championed Hungarian science. He dealt with botany, ethno-botany and ethnography, as well as zoology, and was instrumental in founding the Internationalen Clusius-Forschungsgesellschaft (International Clusius Research Society) in Güssing, whose general secretary he became. He left his estate to the Forestry Protection Faculty of Sopron University (now the University of Western Hungary in Sopron). See JEANPLONG, J. 1989. Aumüller István emlékezete (In memory of IA). Vasi Szemle 43:619-20; idem 1992. Megemlékezés Stephan Aumüller biológusra (1903-1988) (In memory of SA, biologist). Savaria a Vas megyei Múzeumok Értesítője (1991) 20(2):137-44; CSAPODY, I. 1990. Aumüller István (1903-1988) emlékezete (In memory of IA). Soproni Szemle 44:276-9.
