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.
Our research group is dedicated to justice, equity, and inclusion, advocating for the fair treatment of all individuals, irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. We actively promote anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-discriminatory practices in all aspects of our work. Sarah Lemer is committed to advancing the careers of women, people of color, and Indigenous peoples. We welcome students and postdocs who share these values and are passionate about invertebrate evolutionary genomics.
Related laboratory
Contact person
- Head of section
- Scientific head of Molecular lab
Phone: +49 40 238317 631
E-Mail: s.lemer@leibniz-lib.de
Impressions
Projects
There are currently no projects available
Publications
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2025/06
Population Genomics for Coral Reef Restoration—A Case Study of Staghorn Corals in Micronesia
Evolutionary Applications, 6, 18
2025/05
Type genomics: a Framework for integrating Genomic Data into Biodiversity and Taxonomic research
Systematic Biology
2025/03
The big, the small and the weird: A phylogenomic analysis of extant Priapulida
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 204
2025/03
Restoration innovation: Fusing microbial memories to engineer coral resilience
One earth, 3, 8
2025/02
Genomic Insights From Natural History Collections Reveal Cryptic Speciation in Coral Guard Crabs (Family: Trapeziidae)
Ecology and Evolution, 2, 15
2025/01
Photosymbiosis shaped animal genome architecture and gene evolution as revealed in giant clams
Communications Biology, 1, 8
2025/01
Comparative Genomics Points to Ecological Drivers of Genomic Divergence Among Intertidal Limpets
Molecular Ecology resources
2025/01
Evolutionary Genomics of Two Co-occurring Congeneric Fore Reef Coral Species on Guam (Mariana Islands)
Genome Biology and Evolution, 1, 17
2024/12
Genomic data reveals habitat partitioning in massive Porites on Guam, Micronesia
Scientific reports, 1, 14
2024/12
Ecology of endolithic bryozoans: colony development, growth rates and interactions of species in the genus Immergentia
Zoological Letters, 1, 10
2024/11
David versus Goliath: An interspecific comparison between small-sized Halicryptus spinulosus and large-sized Halicryptus higginsi (Priapulida)
Zoologischer Anzeiger, 313
2024/09
New morphological structures of Priapulus caudatus, Lamarck 1816 (Priapulida) and analysis of homologous characters across macroscopic priapulids
Zoologischer Anzeiger, 312
2024/09
Review of the Priapulida of New Zealand with the description of a new species
New Zealand Journal of Zoology
2024/08
Comparative genomics points to ecological drivers of genomic divergence among intertidal limpets
Molecular Ecology resources
2024/07
The genome sequence of the heart cockle, Fragum sueziense (Issel, 1869)
Wellcome Open Research, 9
2024/06
Boring life: early colony formation and growth in the endolithic bryozoan genus Penetrantia Silén, 1946
Zoological Letters, 1, 10
2024/04
Boring systematics: A genome skimmed phylogeny of ctenostome bryozoans and their endolithic family Penetrantiidae with the description of one new species
Ecology and Evolution, 4, 14
2024/03
The genome sequence of a heart cockle, Fragum whitleyi Iredale, 1929
Wellcome Open Research, 130, 9
2024/03
The genome sequence of a heart cockle, Fragum fragum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Wellcome Open Research, 129, 9
2024/00
Photosymbiosis Shaped Animal Genome Architecture and Gene Evolution as Revealed in Giant Clams
bioRxiv
2023/12
Boring bryozoans: an investigation into the endolithic bryozoan family Penetrantiidae
Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 4, 23
2023/07
Genomic signatures suggesting adaptation to ocean acidification in a coral holobiont from volcanic CO2 seeps
Communications Biology, 1, 6
2023/01
Morphology of larval and postlarval stages of Priapulopsis bicaudatus (Danielssen, 1869) (Priapulida) from the north atlantic ocean
Zoologischer Anzeiger, 302
2023/00
Three new species of Nautilus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) from the Coral Sea and South Pacific
ZooKeys, 1143
2022/05
Phylogeny of Amphidinium (Dinophyceae) from Guam and Okinawa, with descriptions of A. pagoense sp. nov. and A. uduigamense sp. nov.
Phycologia, 3, 61
2025
2024
2023
2022
Employees
Melissa Aksoy
zmb ztm Morphology laboratory Hamburg Invertebrate Genomics, Molecular Laboratory HamburgPhone: +49 40 238317-560
E-mail: m.aksoy@leibniz-lib.deKatharina Gebauer
zmb Invertebrate Genomics, Molecular Laboratory HamburgPhone: +49 40 238317-642
E-mail: k.gebauer@leibniz-lib.deJennifer Lauschke
zmb Invertebrate Genomics, Molecular Laboratory HamburgPhone: +49 40 238317-706
E-mail: j.lauschke@leibniz-lib.deDr. Sarah Lemer
zmb Invertebrate Genomics, Molecular Laboratory Hamburg ScientistPhone: +49 40 238317 631
E-mail: s.lemer@leibniz-lib.deJan Raeker
zmb Invertebrate Genomics, Molecular Laboratory Hamburg Doctoral candidatePhone: +49 40 238317 646
E-mail: j.raeker@leibniz-lib.de