sentences:  In 1932 he moved to Montpellier, where he started his studies of ecology under the direction of Swiss ecologist Josias Braun-Blanquet.Later he studied botany, zoology, chemistry and geology in Heidelberg, Hanover and Göttingen, where he obtained a doctorate in 1938 in Göttingen under Franz Firbas.After completing his doctorate he worked at the central office for vegetation mapping in Hannover under the direction of Reinhold Tüxen and during World War II served in a "research relay".