August Friedrich Thienemann (7 September 1882 in Gotha – 22 April 1960 in Plön) was a German limnologist, zoologist and ecologist.

[2] He was an associate Professor of Hydrobiology at the University of Kiel, and director of the former Hydrobiologische Anstalt der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft (now the Max-Planck-Institut für Limnologie) at Plön.

[1][3] A co-founder of Societas Internationalis Limnologiae,[2] Thienemann is best known for his work on the biology of the Chironomidae,[4] and his contributions to the field of lake typology.

[5][6] The Ecological niche: ‘Only those organisms can be present in a biocoenosis that are adapted to the living conditions of the respective biocoenosis; they must be able to live their lives under the special chemical and physical as well as ecological conditions of the respective biotope[7].

[2] One of his more noted students was Carmel Humphries, an Irish expert in Chironomidae.