Invertebrate Genomics, Molecular Laboratory Hamburg

Research interests

System: Coral reef ecosystems face growing threats from global climate change, with profound ecological and socio-economic consequences. While historically resilient, the current increasing intensity and frequency of environmental disturbances are overwhelming the adaptive capacities of many marine organisms. Understanding how species evolve with their environments and how human activities disrupt these relationships is essential for conservation. 

Goals: Investigate the evolutionary and molecular processes driving marine biodiversity. Develop an integrated understanding of these processes at both the genetic and phenotypic levels to predict adaptive capabilities and biotic responses to environmental change. Focus on how biodiversity arises, is maintained, and declines in marine invertebrates. Our work spans species, populations, and organisms, using fieldwork, experiments, and museum collections alongside advanced genomic analyses.

Main Research Themes

Species Evolution to Inform Species Management
A key question in systematics is whether widespread, morphologically uniform species reflect evolutionary stasis or hidden genetic diversity. Cryptic species, common in marine invertebrates, challenge conservation efforts. Using comparative phylogenomics coupled with morphological data, we aim to uncover diversification patterns, the emergence of new traits, and ecological specialization in marine bivalves.

Population Diversity to Predict Population Resilience
Population resilience to environmental changes relies on genetic diversity and connectivity. We investigate how natural and human disturbances, including habitat fragmentation, population displacement, and overfishing, affect the connectivity and diversity of commercially important bivalves populations, using modern molecular techniques.

Organismal Molecular Mechanisms of Resilience
A key goal in evolutionary biology is to understand how phenotypic plasticity and adaptation contribute to biodiversity. We focus on understanding the genetic mechanisms that drive acclimation to changing environments in bivalve and coral individual  organism by examining variations in gene expression and regulatory processes.