biology

Kalevi Kull

Kalevi Kull is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kalevi Kull rather than just read about it. In short: Kalevi Kull (born 12 August 1952 in Tartu) is a biosemiotics professor at the University of Tartu, Estonia. He graduated from the University of Tartu in 1975.

Key takeaways

Kalevi Kull belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kalevi Kull to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kalevi Kull from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kalevi Kull (born 12 August 1952 in Tartu) is a biosemiotics professor at the University of Tartu, Estonia. He graduated from the University of Tartu in 1975. His earlier work dealt with ethology and field ecology. He has studied the mechanisms of species coexistence in species-rich communities and developed mathematical modelling in ecophysiology. Since 1975, he has been the main organiser of annual meetings of theoretical biology in Estonia. In 1992, he became a Professor of Ecophysiology in the University of Tartu. In 1997, he joined the Department of Semiotics, and became a Professor in Biosemiotics. From 2006 to 2018, he was the Head of the Department of Semiotics in the University of Tartu, Estonia. His field of interests include biosemiotics, ecosemiotics, general semiotics, theoretical biology, theory of evolution, history and philosophy of semiotics and life science. He was the president of the Estonian Naturalists' Society in 1991–1994. He is a founder of the Jakob von Uexküll Centre. He is the president of the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies since 2015. Ecologist Olevi Kull was his younger brother.

Editorship Kull is the co-editor of the journal Sign Systems Studies and book series Semiotics, Communication and Cognition (De Gruyter), Biosemiotics (Springer), Tartu Semiotics Library, and Approaches to Culture Theory (University of Tartu Press). He is a member of editorial board of the journals Semiotica, Biosemiotics, Ecokritike, Punctum: International Journal of Semiotics, and others.

Important concepts Biosemiotic concept of species. A species concept based on recognition window of organisms, which is responsible for intraspecific variability range and the minimum width of hiatus. Recognition window. The range of mediated fitting (semiotic fitting), as based on the scope of indistinguishability. Semiotic fitting. The agent’s capacity for making and preserving the local semiotic bonds, meaning the agent’s functional or communicational match with its surrounding. Emon. A type of sign that is based on imitation (as different from symbol which is based on convention, or index which is based on association, or icon which is based on indistinguishability). Umweb. Non-momentary or diachronic or distributed umwelt.

Selected publications Emmeche, Claus; Kull, Kalevi (eds.) (2011). Towards a Semiotic Biology: Life is the Action of Signs. London: Imperial College Press. Kull, Kalevi 2001. Jakob von Uexküll: An introduction. Semiotica 134(1/4): 1–59. Kull, Kalevi; Deacon, Terrence; Emmeche, Claus; Hoffmeyer, Jesper; Stjernfelt, Frederik 2009. Theses on biosemiotics: Prolegomena to a theoretical biology. Biological Theory 4(2): 167–173. Kull, Kalevi 2023. Choices by organisms: on the role of freedom in behaviour and evolution. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 139(4): 555–562.

Festschrifts Maran, Timo; Lindström, Kati; Magnus, Riin; Tønnessen, Morten (eds.) 2012. Semiotics in the Wild: Essays in Honour of Kalevi Kull on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday. Tartu: University of Tartu Press. Favareau, Donald; Velmezova, Ekaterina (eds.) 2022. Tunne loodust! Knowing Nature in the Languages of Biosemiotics. (Epistemologica et historiographica linguistica Lausannensia 4.) Lausanne: Université de Lausanne.

Eponymous species In 2021, a Costa Rican braconid wasp species new to science, Hymenochaonia kalevikulli Sharkey & van Achterberg, was named for Dr. Kull.

References

External links Publications An interview, in Hortus Semioticus

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kalevi Kull

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kalevi Kull claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kalevi Kull before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kalevi Kull ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kalevi Kull

In research: Kalevi Kull appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kalevi Kull in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kalevi Kull is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, 20th-century Estonian philosophers, 21st-century Estonian philosophers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kalevi Kull outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kalevi Kull in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kalevi Kull means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kalevi Kull out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kalevi Kull in simple terms?

Kalevi Kull (born 12 August 1952 in Tartu) is a biosemiotics professor at the University of Tartu, Estonia. He graduated from the University of Tartu in 1975.

Why does Kalevi Kull matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kalevi Kull?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kalevi Kull.