RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

ARGENTINA

Alicia Emma Echevarria

Current work is on marine Oligocene to Miocene Ostracoda of Chacoparanense Basin.

AUSTRALIA

Correspondent: Stephen Eagar

Peter J. Jones—Taxonomic research included the description of a small fauna of bivalved arthropods (Bradoriida and Phsphatocopida) from the Middle Cambrian of the Georgina Basin, central Australia with John Laurie (Geoscience Australia), which is about to be published. Also in press is a reply to the response of Heinz Malz and Alan Lord (2004) to my 2003 paper on pathological moult retention in Ankumia bosqueti van Veen, 1932 (Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, The Netherlands). A short paper with Mark Warne and Lou Kornicker, which refers the Halocypridina Thaumatocypris (Miocene, Australia) to the Cladocopina, has been published in Zootaxa.

More applied research has involved my biostratigraphic input in three collaborative projects over the past 3 years. The first project, in collaboration with a petroleum exploration company (ENI Australia Ltd.) investigated the stratigraphy and petroleum potential of the Carboniferous rocks of the southeastern Bonaparte Basin, northwestern Australia. The results, published in 2005, revise the Mississippian stratigraphy, and identify several new offshore drilling targets. A second project, the Devonian-Carboniferous-Permian Correlation Chart 2003 (DCP 2003), sponsored by GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam and coordinated by Manfred Mennins, involved my collaboration with biostratigraphers from Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, USA, and Peoples Republic of China. The first paper arising from this project deals with the global time scale and regional stratigraphic reference scales of Europe, Tethys, South China, and North America, and is about to be published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. The third project involved the revision of the biostratigraphic background in a paper by Christoph Korte and others on C, O, Sr/Sr curves on Permian sections of Australia based on the analyses of brachiopod shells. This paper, “Permian latitudinal sea-surface temperature gradients” will be published in Nature.

Ivana Karanovic—is still an associate of the Western Australian Museum. In 2004-2005, she completed the project “The revision of the subfamily Candoninae”. After that she was working on the subterranean ostracods from the Pilbara region. The results of this project are summarized in the monograph which will be submitted by the end of July, 2006. At present, she is working on the list of the Australian recent Ostracoda for the Australian Biological Resources Study web site.

John Neil—continues taxonomic and palaeogeographic studies of southeast Australian ostracod assemblages, currently focusing on Batesford Quarry, near Geelong, Victoria. Studies of the micro reticulation of the ostracod carapace, from Cambrian to Recent (in collaboration with Ken Bell, Inverleigh). In preparation—Miocene ostracode assemblages from Bateford Quarry near Geelong, Victoria.

Jessica Reeves—has recently completed a post-doctoral appointment at the ANU, looking at groundwater ostracods from the Pilbara, northwestern Australia. The project was in collaboration with Patrick DeDeckker (ANU), Stuart Halse (Conservation and Land Management, WA) and Ivana Karanovic (WA Museum). The project has identified more than 70 new species of ostracods, mostly belonging to the Candoninae. The primary aim of Jessica’s role was to identify relationships between the ostracod species distribution and the host water chemistry (major ion and stable oxygen isotopes). The results of this research are in the process of being published. Jessica has also completed two papers on her PhD research into the use of ostracods in the Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia. These will be coming out later this year. She is now taking a short break from ostracod research and has returned to Melbourne for the birth of her first daughter, Poppy.

Mark Warne continues his work at Deakin University on the taxonomy of fossil and modern Australasian Ostracoda. He has recently begun several new research projects that utilize ostracod shells in the analysis of environmental history and change for southeast Australian estuaries and coastal lagoons. Michele Guzel continues her PhD project at Deakin University on the Cretaceous ostracod fauna of the Caernarvon Basin, Western Australia.

BELGIUM

Jean-Georges Casier—continues to work on Devonian ostracods. In 2005, in collaboration with Ewa Olempska (Polish Academy of Sciences), he finished the study of Lower and Middle Frasnian ostracods from the devils Gate section in Nevada, and he started the study of ostracods from the Early-Middle Frasnian crisis in the Wietrznia quarry, Holy Cross Mountains, Poland. He has also finished the study of ostracods present in several sections (Bou Tchrafine, Djebel Mech Irdane and El Atrous) of the Tafilalt, Morocco.

Karel Wouters is working on:

Marine and brackish Cypridacea, mostly from the Indian and Pacific Oceans
Ypresian ostracods from an outcrop in Marke, Belgium
An extant species of the genus Neocyprideis from Java
The taxonomy and zoogeography of the Family Saididae

BRAZIL

Correspondent: Joao Carlos Coimbra

Cristianini Trescastro Bergue—finished his PhD thesis on Quaternary deep sea ostracodes and paleoceanography from Santos Basin, southeast Brazilian margin, advised by Prof. Dr. Joao Carlos Coimbra, and has been working in that field ever since.

Simone Nunes Brandao—is a PhD student in Germany, working under the advisorship of Dietmar Keyser. Her work is on the taxonomy of Recent Podocopida (using soft parts when available) of the deep sea of the Atlantic sector of Antarctica. She intends to investigate the systematic relationship of Macrocyprididae to other taxa and population genetics using DNA (together with Isaa Schoen, who works in Belgium with Koen Martens). She is especially interested in the biodiversity and biogeography of deep Antarctic ostracods.

Joao Carlos Coimbra—is working on six main projects:

A long-term project on the taxonomy and zoogeography of Brazilian marine ostracods, with Maria Ines Feijo Ramos
Taxonomy and paleozoogeography of nonmarine Cretaceous ostracods from Potiguar Basin (NE Brazil) with Dermeval Aparecido do Carmo and Robin C. Whatley
Miocene and Pliocene foraminifers and their applications to palaeoenvironmental and biostratigraphical analysis, Pelotas Basin (southernmost Brazil) with Ana Luisa Carreno and Geise de Santana dos Anjos-Zerfass (a PhD student)
Deep-sea ostracods from Pleistocene-Holocene of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean with Cristianini Trescastro Bergue and Thomas Cronin
Ostracods from the Brazilian oceanic islands (Atol das Rocas, Tridade and Fernanco de Noronha)
The palaeoenvironmental significance of the fossil Holocene ostracods recovered from 15 drill holes from the coastal plain of Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, with Gerson Fauth and Karen B. Costa.

I have two PhD students:

Claudia Pinto Machado is studying the taxonomy and zoogeographical significance of the ostracode fauna from the NE shelf of Brazil
Geise de Santana dos Anjos is working on biostratigraphy and sea level changes (based on foraminifers) of five offshore drilholes from Pelotas Basin, southernmost Brazil (co-advised by Ana Luisa Carreno)
Cristianini Trescastro Bergue finished his PhD thesis on deep sea ostracods and paleoceanography of late Quaternary cores of the Santos Basin, southeastern Brazil.

I have three M.Sc. students:

Pauline di Mari Leopoldi is studying deep sea ostracods from a core localized in the south of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean
Demetrio Nicolasidis is beginning research on deep sea ostracods from Late Quaternary cores of the Campos Basin, Brazil (co-advised by Cristianini Trescastro Bergue)
Renata Giacomel is beginning a study on planktonic foraminifers and isotope stratigraphy from the Quaternary of the Santos Basin, Brazil

Iraja Damiani Pinto—is presently working on the taxonomy and distribution of Palaeozoic macro crustaceans from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and South Africa.

Dermeval A. Do Carmo—is still the Head of Laboratory of Micropaleontology at the Institute of Geosciences, University of Brasilia-UnB. In 2005, during the 15^th ISO held in Berlin, he was elected the chairman of the 16^th International Symposium on Ostracoda to be held in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. The symposium is planned to take place the last week of July 2009.

In 2005, three students supervised by him finished their Masters of Science dissertations:

Joao V. Queiroz Neto, Early Cretaceous ostracods from Alagoas Basin. He is now working in PETROBRAS, the Brazilian oil company, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Claudio Magalhaes de Almeida, Permian ostracods from Parana Basin. He is working on his PhD and as lecturer in the Goias State University, Brazil.
Ricardo Piazza Meireles, Miocene/Quaternary marine ostracods from Santos Basin. He is now working on articles dealing with his dissertation and as assistant in the Laboratory of Micropaleontology, University of Brasilia, Brazil.

Three PhD students are being supervised:

Fatima Praxedes Rebelo Leite, Miocene paleobiogeography of the western Amazonia
Silvia Regina Gobbo-Rodrigues, Early Cretaceous ostracods from Araripe Basin
Claudio Magalhaes de Almeida, Cretaceous/Paleogene ostracods from the Santos Basin

Gerson Fauth—current work in progress includes:

The Upper Cretaceous ostracods from Santos Basin (with Cristianini Bergue)
Distribution of Recent foraminifers, ostracods and micro-mollusks in shore sediments of Easter Island
Cretaceous ostracods from Crato Formation, northwestern Brazil (with Cristianini Bergue)

Students and thesis topics:

Enelise Piovesan (postgraduate student), Distribution of genus Majungaella from Upper Cretaceous in the Santos Basin
Gislaine Bertoglio (postgraduate student) is doing her PhD on Upper Cretaceous ostracods from Santo Basin (paleoenvironments and paleogeographic distribution)
Cleide Mura (postgraduate student) is working on Maastrichtian and Campanian ostracods of Upper Cretaceous in the Pernambuco-Paralba Basin.

Renato Olindo Ghiselli Jr.—has finished his PhD thesis on ostracods as environmental indicators in two polluted marine marginal areas: (1) Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro State, and (2) Flamingo Bay, Sao Paulo State, both in Brazil. Now he is preparing some papers on this subject.

Paulo da Silva Milhomen—is a petroleum ostracodologist at Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (PETROBRAS). He is working with biostratigraphy based on nonmarine Cretaceous ostracods from the marginal Brazilian petroleum basins.

Ricardo Lourenco Pinto—is a PhD student in zoology at the Universidade de Sao Paulo and is studying taxonomy and ecology of ostracods from semi-terrestrial habitats in the Atlantic Forest, southeastern Brazil. He is co-advised by Koen Martens.

Maria Ines Feijo Ramos—I have been working in two main projects supported by Brazilian financial agency (CNPq): (1) Paleontologia, sedimentologia e estragrafia dos depositos terciarios da Formacao Solimoes, Sudoeste da Amazonia Occidental and (2) Paleoecologia e bioestragrafia da Formacao Pirabos, nordeste do estado do Para.. I have also been studying Recent ostracods from the Brazilian coast. My curation activity is in the Paleontology Collection (Invertebrate and Microfossil collection) from the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi.

Paper in preparation—Ramos, M.I.F., Coimbra, J.C., and Whatley, R.C., Recent marine ostracodes (Family Trachyleberididae) from south Brazil.

I am supervising 2 graduate students and one post-graduate student sponsored by CNPq, Brazil:

Anna Andressa Nogueira (bioanna100@yahoo.com.br) is studying the Miocene ostracods from Pirabas Formation, north Brazil
Samantha Cecim (samanthacecim@yahoo.com.br) is studying ray scales
Sue Anne Costa (sue.costa@gmail.com) is studying shark teeth and icthiolites bones fishes, both from the Miocene Pirabas Formation
Edmir Amanajas (wakingmind@gmail.com) is a volunteer collaborator who is helping me in the study of Miocene ostracods from the Solimoes Formation. Sue Costa is studying the icthiolites and teeth of sharks and bone fishes from the same stratigraphic unit.

Norma Wurdig—has invested most of her time studying the ecology of estuarine meiofauna from southern Brazil.

CANADA

Ursula Grigg—had a mild stoke in May, 2005. She is slowly recovering, but is not out of the woods yet. She sold her home in Halifax and lives with one of her daughters in New Minas, 60 miles west of Halifax. She plans to return to her projects at the Museum of Nova Scotia.

Qadeer Siddiqui—has been made an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University, Halifax.

Finn Viehberg—Activities include:

Finished his PhD thesis, “Quantitative paleoenvironmental studies using freshwater ostracods in northeast Germany” in August, 2005. The results include a new sampling method, a regional checklist, paleoenvironmental studies, and a temperature transfer function (WA) based on freshwater ostracods.
Received a Feodor-Lynen Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) to start a research project on “Paleolimnology in the eastern Canadian Arctic using microcrustaceans” with intensive field work.
He is now working in the Laboratory of Paleolimnology and Paleoecology at the Centre d’Etudes Nordiques, University Laval, Ste. Foy, Quebec, Canada.

COLUMBIA

Fernando Munoz-Torres—I am currently working the Meso-Cenozoic biostratigraphy (foraminifers and palynology) of northwestern South America. I intend to start methodical studies on Ostracoda, but the local unknowns of the group delay the development of projects. On the other hand, Columbia is a very important geo-location reference to acquire and study material that allows for an integral understanding about several global topics for terrestrial sediments since the Cretaceous. Columbia has basins on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It has coasts and mangroves on active and passive shelf continental margins. There are also three Andean Cordillera branches of different geological natures. Freshwater “lagoons” are at high elevation. Large rivers run along the narrow valleys or extensive plains co-existing with ponds and wetlands. The variable oceanography, geography, environments and ecologic conditions during geological times in Columbia makes it possible to better understand the different natural phenomena and their relationships. I will be pleased to cooperate and work with all colleagues interested in finding answers in tropical areas.

EGYPT

Correspondent: A. Elewa

A. Elewa—In February, 2005 my M.Sc. student, Mr. Omar Osman, finished his thesis on the Cretaceous-Paleogene succession of Safaga area, Eastern Desert, Egypt. During 2005 I edited my second book with Springer-Verlag, which was published in August 2005 under the title “Migration of Organisms: Climate, Geography, Ecology”. This book contains two chapters on ostracods as well as the introduction and another chapter dealing with ostracods together with other organisms. Michael Schudack and Ulla Schudack (Frei Universitat Berlin), Ahmed Dakrory and I (Minia University) started a new project on Cretaceous-Eocene successions of some localities of Egypt.

FRANCE

Correspondent: Jean-Paul Colin

Andreu, Bernard—Current studies include:

· Cretaceous of Jaisalmer Basin, Rajasthan, India

· Upper Cretaceous of Pyrenees, France; Jurassic (Callovian-Oxfordian) of Portugal

· Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) of Bulgaria.

Thesis supervision—El M. Ettachfini, Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida, Morocco, La Transgression du Cenomanien-Turonien sur le Domaine Atlasique Marocain, Stratigraphie integree et relations avec l’evenement oceanique global, completing July 22, 2006.

Anne-Marie Bodergat—is working on:

Recent samples from Akyatan Lagoon, Turkey with A. Nazik
Recent samples from Kagoshima Bay, Japan, with K. Oki and K. Ishizaki
Lower Jurassic from Algeria, with S. Elmi

Carbonel, Pierre—Two main research topics:

Paleoceanography and paleoclimatology

· Pleistocene-Holocene ostracods from West Mediterranean margin, implications in paleoclimatology (program ANR CNRS SESAME with IFREMER)

· Pleistocene ostracodes and paleoeanography from the deep-sea fan of the Nile (with GDR Marges)

Ostracodes and archeology

The 2 last millennia in the Smaller Antilles (St. Martin)—ostracodes (assemblages and stable isotopes) indicate the evolution and the anthropisation of the lagoons of the islands (PCR Antilles)--Modifications des paleoenvironnements et occupations amérindiennes de l’ile de St-Martin
Ostracodes as indicators of evolution of the antique harbours from Pisa and Roma (collaboration with CEREGE, Aix en Provence)
Ostracodes and human habitats from the south Moroccan Pleistocene (with L. Wengler, University of Perpignan)

In addition, I am working on:

· morphology of the genus Cyprideis (with D. Danielopol);

· Lower Miocene faunas from Aquitaine and Burdigalian stratotypes (with J.-P. Colin);

· Pleistocene fauna from Boliqueime (Portugal) with C. Cabral and J.-P. Colin;

· continental faunas from Aquitaine Basin (with B. Cahuzac);

· Continental faunas from Moroccan Pliocene (with D. Nachite).

Colin, Jean-Paul

Checklist and inventory of the ostracods from New Caledonia (with T. Hoibian, Noumea)

Cretaceous ostracodes of Jaisalmer Basin, Rajasthan, India (with B. Andreu)
Plio-Pleistocene limnic ostracodes from Portugal (with C. Cabral and P. Carbonel)
Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous ostracodes from Portugal (with C. Cabral)
Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous ostracodes from Lebanon (with J. Dejax)
revision of Cretaceous ostracodes referred to the genus Conchoecia (with L. Kornicker, J.G. Casier, B. Andreu, J. Sauvagnat, and A. Rossi)
Recent freshwater ostracodes from Wallis and Ftuna, French Polynesia (with N. Mary and C. Meisch)
Associate Editor for the Revue de Micropaleontologie; Vic-President Reserve naturelle Geologique de Saucats La Brede; Vice-President, European Ostracode Group.

Sylvie Crasquin-Soleau—I have two PhD students. One is studying Early and Middle Permian ostracods from Thailand (Anisong Chitnarin, Khora, Thailand) and the other on Permian ostracods from South China (Yuan Aihua, Wuhan, R.P. China). This last thesis is realized alternating with Wuhan Geosciences University, with a scholarship of the French Embassy in Beijing. I am co-supervisor on two other PhDs—one on the sedimentology of Middle and Late Permian of Central Thailand (Nitipon Noipow, Khorat, Thailand) and the other on Permian paleoflora of South China (Yu Jianxin, Wuhan, R.P. China).

In 2005, I had three field projects--One was in NW Thailand in March 2005; the second in South China, in Guizhou Province, where we analyzed different sections of the P/T boundary in December 2005; and the last fieldwork was in June 2006 in Tibet.

My current projects are:

CNRS (SDV)-TRF (Thailand Research Foundation) ended in 2005. Three expeditions were realized (2002, 2003, and 2005). Two PhD are associated with the project.
Permian-Triassic boundary work represents my main research work.

The results obtained in Saudi Arabia are now published.
Samples of the sections collected in North Iran (Central and Eastern Elbourz) during the MEBE International programme are processed. 57 species belonging to 26 genera are recognized. The PT boundary was observed. The first results were presented during the AAPG meeting in 2006.
My research is focused on South China. I manage 3 international programmes—Programme de Recherches Avancees (PRA STO3-01), ECLIPSE II, and PICS. Two PhDs are associated with the project. With Chinese colleagues, the study of the PT boundary in the Dolomites in Italy is ongoing. The stratotype of the PT boundary in Meishan (Changxing Province) was sampled and the revision of the ostracod fauna was submitted. The first results were presented during the 2^nd International Paleontological Congress in Beijing in June 2006. I began a study of PT ostracods in Tibet with Shuzhong Shen (University of Nanning, R.P. China).
Ostracods associated with microbial crusts (microbiolites); collaboration with S. Kershaw, Brunel University, Uxbridge (GB). The results were published in Paleo3.
“Turn-over” of ostracods during the early-middle Triassic—collaborations with Zurich University (Hugo Bucher) and Brunel University (S. Kershaw). These assemblages (systematics is published) are very well dated by ammonites and conodonts, and allow us to have a precise age and the processing of the Palaeozoic-Mesozoic turnover (131).
In the frame of a Geneve University PhD, I had the opportunity to analyze deep water ostracod fauna from Sicily. A paper is submitted to Palaeontology.

Sophie Dupont-Wargniez—I am working on three projects during 2006-2007:

· To finalize the study begun in 2002 about ecology of Recent estuarine ostracodes and relationships between ostracodes and quality of brackish water

· To develop the study of ostracode faunas in ponds in the north of France in relation to water quality

· To investigate the feasibility and the usefulness of species identification using molecular biology tools

Guernet, Claude

Continuing studies on taxonomy, phylogeny, and ecology of marine ostracods from the NW European and Mediterranean areas
With P. Carbonel and J.-P. Colin, finish a paper about Falunia Grekoff and Moyes

Marmonier, Pierre

Description of a new genus and two new species of Candoninae from southern Morocco: Marococandona danielopoli and Marococandona nicolae
Detailed studies of two species of the genus Cryptocandona (i.e., C. kieferi and C. vavrai) from Europe. We focused on population variability in these species living in springs and groundwater.
Effects of landscape changes linked to agriculture on stream fauna, including ostracods (6^th year of the programme).

Oertli, Henri J.—Happy retiree (since 1988) but more busy than before, has by now a very restricted ostracodological activity—but his heart is still with Ostracoda!—It should be reminded that all of his collections (slides and literature) are housed at the National History Museum of Geneva/Switzerland and can there be consulted. Of particular interest may be some rare publications (including Russian). In case of interest, you best contact our friend Jacques Sauvagnat at jsauvagnat@compuserve.com

Vincent Perrier—See references for 2005, 2006. I am a PhD student in palaeontology and palaeobiology at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1.

Sauvagnat, Jacques—Research is on Barremian ostracodes from SE France.

Tambareau, Yvette—I have no more possibilities to work on ostracods, but I keep an active interest in Tethyan Paleogene biostratigraphy organizing field trips.

GERMANY

Peter Frenzel—I am just finishing my Habilitation thesis on Recent and Holocene ostracods and foraminifers from the Baltic Sea and their use as bio-indicators. The focus lies on ecology and taxonomy as well as applications in Quaternary geology, archaeology, and biological monitoring. Last year I moved from Rostock University to Jena University in Thuringia. Here I started a new program concerning ostracods and foraminifers in saline waters of central Germany.

Eugen Kempf—I am continuing work on the “Kempf Database Ostracoda”. The second supplements to the hitherto published indices and bibliographies are steadily growing, forming parts 11 to 15 of the series “Index and Bibliography of Nonmarine Ostracoda” as well as “Index and Bibliography of Marine Ostracoda”. Mainly due to working in retirement, it is much more difficult and expensive to get the necessary literature. It would be of great help if ostracodologists would send copies of their papers soon after publication.

In September 2006, the second index from level 2 (stratigraphy) of my database will be published on CD-ROM with the title “Recent Nonmarine Ostracoda of the World”. With more than 27,000 datasets, again, a unique instrument of reference becomes available, forming a great step on the way toward a “GRESS Ostracoda”, where GRESS stands for Growing Expert Support System.

With both Index D versions, more than 47,000 datasets are now leading to first and subsequent descriptions or mentions of taxa in the literature on Recent Ostracoda of the world, a great help when dealing with the present ostracod biodiversity. All taxa of the genus and species level are coded by their UTIN (Universal Taxonomic Identification Number) produced in the Index B versions of my database. Accordingly, homonyms and synonyms are clearly separated.

Dietmar Keyser—continues his research on the ecology and morphology of Recent ostracods. After the near completion of the subrecent ostracods of the Aral Sea, he is now trying to evaluate the influence of pollution and changing environment on the distribution of ostracods in the Baltic Sea, together with Peter Franzel, B. Scharf and N. Aladin. He also continues the work on the calcification of the ostracod carapace.

Michael Kramer—Since August, 2005, I have focused on taxonomy, ecology and geochemical properties of Holocene ostracods from Tso Kar (White Lake) in Ladakh, northern India. Modern species distribution as well as Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios shall help to interpret the ostracod and trace-element record of a 4.5 m lake sediment core, which was drilled in 2005. Changes in ostracod associations as well as valve chemistry are used to reconstruct environmental fluctuation and regional paleoclimatic conditions.

I am also working on the ostracods from the Pleistocene Upper Karewas of Kashmir. Taxonomy and phenotypic variability of problematic taxa are of species interest, but also possibilities of Pleistocene ostracod biostratigraphy and paleoecology are analyzed. This study was enabled by Dr. J. Holmes, who provided all of the material and expertise.

In the summer of 2007 I should be finished with these two projects, since my scholarship from the Berlin universities is limited. Publications on the above projects are in progress.

Renate Matzke-Karasz—is working on the following:

Micromorphology of freshwater ostracod soft parts and carapaces
Fossil ostracod soft parts
Morphology of reproductive organs
Sperm-egg interactions in ostracods
Taxonomy of freshwater ostracodes, both fossil (Quaternary) and Recent
Palaeoecology of ostracods
Investigation of additional appendages in African giant ostracod species (together with Koen Martens)
Sperm-egg interaction in ostracods with giant sperm
Ostracod reproduction
Histology of freshwater ostracods
One of the partners of the EU Marie Curie Research and Training Network ‘SexAsex’. Anthropologist and chromosome specialist Dr. Stefan Muller and I form the Munich post of the network, responsible for karyological, histological and spermatological research on Eucypris virens, our model organism. Within this frame, Radka Symonova (Prague) is doing her PhD here in Munich.
In September 2005 I co-organized the 15^th International Symposium on Ostracodes, held at the Freie Universitat, Berlin. Currently, with colleagues Koen Martens and Michael Schudack, I am editing one of the three proceedings of the meeting, to be published in Hydrobiologia in 2007.

Steffen Mischke—continued to collect lake sediment surface samples from Tibetan lakes in the summer, 2005 and has now submitted a manuscript about a first ostracod-conductivity transfer function for Tibetan lakes for publication in the Journal of Paleolimnology. A first sampling survey in Mongolia has been finished as well, which may possibly lead to an enlargement of the existing surface sediment data set. In addition, Steffen did some work on the samples of a Middle Pleistocene outcrop in the Qaidam Basin where freshwater ostracods indicate the existence of a large freshwater in the presently dry basin. At the end of 2005, he started to bring a group of scientists together who are interested in a longer drilling (~1200 meters) and accompanying work in the Qaidam Basin as ICDP initiative. The extremely thick Quaternary sequences of this basin are the target of a multi-disciplinary palaeoclimate study. Organized with Michael and Ulla Schudack, the 15^th International Symposium on Ostracoda was held at Steffen’s institute in September in Berlin.

Nasser Mostafawi—is retired, but continues his studies on Mediterranean Neogene ostracods.

Simone Nunes-Brandao—is working on the deep sea ostracods in the Antarctic Ocean. She is now busy with the taxonomy and genetic structure of the deep sea Macrocyprididae and the Pontocyprididae. She is working on this together with Isa Schoen in Belgium. The taxonomic studies show that the biodiversity in the deep sea is higher than expected.

Claudius Pirkenseer—After dealing with Miocene freshwater Ostracoda from Denkendorf (Bavaria) in my diploma thesis, I began a thesis (advisor Jean-Pierre Berger, University of Fribourg, Switzerland) on the Paleogene microfossils, palaeoecology, palaeogeography and stratigraphy of the southern Upper Rhine Graben (URG) in 2002. The focus is on Rupelian marine and brackish Ostracoda as well as planktonic and benthic Foraminifera derived from field outcrops and two drill cores. The three main ostracod assemblages and complementary foraminiferal data mirror the development of the two Rupelian URG transgressions (Ru1 and Ru2-3 sequences). A compilation of a regional microfossil atlas is intended to be carried out following the oral defense in 2007.

Benjamin Sames—I focused on Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous nonmarine Ostracoda at the moment. Besides co-organizing the ISO 15 in Berlin, I continued writing my PhD thesis, dealing with revision and application of ostracodes (and charophytes) of some nonmarine Lower Cretaceous formations in the U.S. Western Interior (supervised by Michael Schudack and David J. Horne).

In addition, I am working on some other projects:

Late Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous Ostracoda and Charophyta from Tendaguru, SE Tanzania
Cretaceous nonmarine Ostracoda from Mongolia (with Khand Yondon, Ulaan Bataar)
Middle to Late Jurassic Cyprideidae (with Robin Whatley and Michael Schudack)
French and Tanzanian early representatives of the Cyprideidae (with Jean-Paul Colin)

Burkhard Scharf—has collected ostracods on the Terschelling Island in the Netherlands, together with Werner Hollwedel, who works on Cladocera. It was our task to collect freshwater and brackish water ostracods sand cladocerans on this island. Burkhard was one of the leaders of an excursion to Central America. He has taught two Polish colleagues and one from Guatemala to collect and determine freshwater ostracodes.

Michael Schudack—continues his research on Mesozoic ostracods. His current main activities on ostracods and charophytes include research projects on the Early and Late Jurassic and on the Early Cretaceous of Europe and North America. His main focus (depending on the project) lies in biostratigraphy, paleoecology, biogeography, paleoclimatology, and stable isotope shell geochemistry. A running application for a research project deals with the ostracod diversity across the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (KT) of Sinai (in cooperation with Ashraf Elewa, Egypt).

Michael organized the 15^th International Symposium on Ostracods (ISO 15) in Berlin in September, 2005 (along with his team, mainly Ulla Schudack, Steffen Mischke, Benjamin Sames and Kerstin Zobel). He has been elected the secretary of the International Research Group on Ostracoda (IRGO) for the period of 2005-2009.

Thesis supervision:

Early Cretaceous ostracods from the Rocky Mountains, USA (Benjamin Sames)
Biogeography and database of Early Cretaceous nonmarine Ostracoda, as exemplified for selected European basins (Kerstin Zobel)
Ostracod biostratigraphy and microfacies of the Nordsteimke Member (Kimmeridgian, Upper Jurassic) near Wolfsburg, Germany (Nadine Siegling)
Microbiostratigraphy and isotope stratigraphy of the Lower Jurassic from Gross Schoenebeck borehole, Brandenburg, Germany (Karoline Fischer)

Please go to http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~palaeont/bog/bog-main.htm to get more information about the Berlin Ostracodology Group.

Ulla Schudack—In 2005 I continued my project about biostratigraphy, systematics, and biogeographic relations of the Lower Cretaceous ostracods in northern and eastern Spain. I had a nice and successful field trip to Spain in October and I hope to finish my investigations early next year. I was occupied with the organization of ISO 15; it was a great pleasure to have the “ostracod family” here in Berlin.

Antje Schwalb—recently started new research projects on the Yucatan Peninsula, a contribution to the Lago Peten Itza Scientific Drilling Project (PISDP), and in southern Tibet, both collaborative research initiatives funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

Students:

Liseth Perez (PhD student, co-advisor Burkhard Scharf) is carrying out a limnological survey across the Yucatan Peninsula in order to build a training set from ecological, aquatic geochemical and limnological data. She will apply transfer functions and interference statistics to species assemblages of ostracodes from long cores recovered from Lake Peten Itza in February-March 2006, in order to help decode the late Quaternary climate history of the Neotropics.
Claudia Wrozyna (Diploma student) is working with ostracode species assemblages from surface sediments and outcrops in the Lake Nam Co catchment (southern Tibet) and the Zada Basin (southwest Tibet) in order to get a first overview on Late Quaternary lake level changes (in cooperation with Steffen Mischke and Peter Frenzel).

ISRAEL

Correspondent: Avi Honigstein

Avi Honigstein and Amnon Rosenfeld—published their Late Permian paper (together with B. Derin) in the 2005 volume of Micropaleontology. The results of this study were also presented at the International Symposium in Berlin. Preliminary results of the Holocene study (together with R. Maddocks, Houston) were summarized in an internal report of the Geological Survey in Israel: Maddocks, R.F., Rosenfeld, A., and Honigstein, A., 2004, Holocene ostracodes from the continental shelf and slope of northern Israel: a preliminary report on the ostracode assemblages: Rep. GSI/10/04.

Avi Honigstein—continues with Mesozoic-Cenozoic studies of assemblages from Israel and adjacent countries. A study on marine Pliocene ostracodes (together with N. Mostafawi, Kiel) is in preparation and a joint research on Eocene faunas (together with E. Brouwers, Denver) is planned. He attended the XV International Symposium on Ostracoda in Berlin, Germany and served as part of the organizing committee. He was on sabbatical leave during 2005-2006 at Freie Universitaet, Berlin, Germany, with Dr. M. and U. Schudack; at Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand with Dr. B. Ratanastiean, and at the U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO, USA with Dr. E. Brouwers. Many thanks to all my hosts!

Benny Guralnik—continues his isotopic measurements and biometric studies on ostracode assemblages in northern Israel. He attended the XV International Symposium on Ostracoda in Berlin, Germany.,

Amnon Rosenfeld—retired during 2005 from the Geological Survey in Israel and lives now in New York. He is still very interested in ostracode works. A study on lake ostracodes from the last glacial is in its initial state at the Geological Survey in Jerusalem.

ITALY

Correspondent: Elsa Gliozzi

Claudio Belis—studies Late Glacial sequences from sites in northern Italy in collaboration with the Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern. At present, he works on ostracods from Lake Lago della Costa.

In preparation: Finsinger, W., Larocque, I., Belis, C., Blockley, S., D’Andrea, W., Eicher, U., Leuenberger, M., Huang, Y., Lowe, J.J., Turney, C., and Ammann, B., Late-Glacial climatic changes as inferred by chironomids, hydrogen isotopes, oxygen isotopes, microtephra, and ostracods, and their effect in the southern forelands of the western Alps, Italy.

Pietro Miculan—I continue to work on brackish water faunas of the late Miocene (Messinian “Lago-Mare”) from the western Mediterranean area. Research interests include Neogene deep-sea ostracods of the Mediterranean area, and Lower Miocene ostracods from Libya.

CATANIA UNIVERSITY

Francesco Sciuto (Section of Oceanography and Palaeoecology) works on palaeoecology and stratigraphy of Plio-Pleistocene deep-water ostracod assemblages. Ongoing research is on living and dead ostracod assemblages from the Mediterranean and Thailand.

In preparation: F. Sciuto and A. Rosso, Ostracod taphonomic features in deep-water Pliocene sediments from Sicily: Proceedings 2^nd International Congress of Taphonomy, Barcelona.

PARMA UNIVERSITY

Carlo Bellavere, Giorgio Benassi, Paolo Menozzi, Valeria Rossi—Department of Environmental Science, are involved in research on the population ecology and population genetics of Heterocypris incongruens, Heterocypris barbara, Eucypris virens, and Darwinula stevensoni.

Giampaolo Rossetti (Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Parma) is concerned with the study of taxonomy and systematics of the Recent Darwinulidae, in cooperation with Koen Martens and Isa Schoen (Brussels) and Ricardo Pinto (Sao Paulo). He is principal investigator (Parma lab) of the EU project SexAsex (from Sex to Asex: a case study on interactions between sexual and asexual reproduction), based on Eucypris virens as model organism (http://www.natuurwetenschappen.be/EVIRENS/index.htm). He is supervisor of several undergraduate theses on freshwater ostracods. At the University of Parma, within the project SexAsex, Olivier Schmit (Belgium) and Maria Joae Martins (Portugal) are carrying out part of their PhD work, and Jochen Vandekerkhove (Belgium) has a one year position as Postdoc. Valentina Pieri will shortly complete her PhD thesis “Studies on biodiversity, distributional patterns and ecology of Recent non-marine ostracods and their possible use as water quality indicators”. A new edition of the checklist of Recent freshwater ostracods from mainland Italy and nearby islands is currently in progress. Other funded research projects focus on the diversity of ostracods in high elevation bogs and in alpine springs.

PISA UNIVERSITY

Alessandro Bossio, Barbara Dall’Antonia, Simone Da Prato (PhD student) are currently working on ostracods from some Messinian Lago mare successions of the Mediterranean with special emphasis on Tuscan ones. Research on Neogene and Quaternary marine faunas of central Italy (Tuscany, Sardinia) and Corsica are still in progress.

ROMA TRE UNIVERSITY

The Roma Tre ostracodologist group (Department of Earth Sciences) is at present involved in several research projects involving Neogene and Quaternary marine, brackish, and freshwater ostracods of the Mediterranean area.

Elsa Gliozzi and Francesco Grossi (PhD student) are working on late Messinian Lago-mare ostracods in the central and eastern Mediterranean, through the detailed analyses of sediment cores and outcrop sections located in northern and central Italy and central Crete. The collected ostracods are studied in a taxonomic, palaeoenvironmental (using multivariate analyses), palaeobiogeographical and biostratigraphical perspective. In the latter sense, an integrated stratigraphical approach has been used (astrocyclostratigraphy derived from calcimetry, magnetic susceptibility, clay mineral analysis, organic matter, bulk stable isotopes).

Elsa Gliozzi and Silvia Ligios (PhD student) are studying the Late Miocene brackish ostracods from central and southern Italy, mainly from a taxonomical point of view. At present, general Loxoconchissa ssp., Loxoconchissa (Loxocaspia), and Vestalenula have been analyzed, providing several new species. This research will provide new information about palaeobiogeography and biostratigraphy of the brackish domain.

Elsa Gliozzi and Maria Chiara Medici (post-Master student) are involved in the taxonomic study of a rich Middle-Late Pliocene freshwater ostracod fauna coming from Tiberino Lake, a fossil ancient lake located in central Italy. At present, at least two endemic Candoninae lineages have been recognized.

Costanza Faranda is mainly involved in the study of Neogene and Quaternary marine ostracods. Together with Ilaria Mazzini and Elsa Gliozzi, she has studied the Pliocene-Quaternary ostracods from the “classical” Quaternary succession cropping out at Monte Mario (Rome) using a multivariate analysis approaches, leading to the reconstruction of the palaeoenvironmental variations. At present, the Monte Mario ostracod assemblage is studies in a taxonomical perspective. Together with Elsa Gliozzi, she has also studied the early Tortonian marine ostracods coming from a coralline succession cropping out in central Crete. The use of the multivariate analysis led to the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the succession, showing several marine oscillations.

JAPAN

Hirokazu Ozawa--studies in the National Science Museum of Japan, Tokyo (in Dr. Yoshihiro Tanimura laboratory). Current research on ostracods includes: (1) ecology and taxonomy of modern ostracods in the Japan Sea and adjacent areas (with Dr. Takahiro Kamiya); and (2) taxonomy, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography (extinction, speciation, and migration) of cryophilic ostracods since the Miocene from Japan.

Robin Smith—I am currently researching the ostracod fauna of Lake Biwa, central Japan. I am also continuing with research on the ontogeny and evolution of podocopan ostracods with Takahiro Kamiya, David Horne and Akira Tsukagoshi, and the biology of ostracods with Renate Matzke-Karasz.

Tatsuhiko Yamaguchi—I study Tertiary Ostracoda from Japan in Niigata University. My ongoing study with Prof. Kamiya is on Eocene ostracodes from Bonin Islands. I am planning to study Paleogene ostracodes from northern Japan with Dr. Kurita, who majors in fossil dinoflagellate cysts. My address changed from Kanazawa to Niigata University in April, 2006.

Moriaki Yasuhara—I am focusing and working on deep-sea ostracode species diversity with Tom Cronin at the USGS. My current research interests are:

Climatic impact on deep-sea species diversity
Paleo-perspective on macro-ecological theories
Anthropogenic impacts on coastal marine ecosystems
Paleontology of Ostracoda.

For more details, please see my website at http://deepseaecosystem.blogspot.com

MEXICO

Correspondent: Ana Luisa Carreno

Ana Luisa Carreno is working on:

Recent marine ostracodes from the equatorial offshore Brazil
Cretaceous ostracodes from the Reconcavo Basin, Brazil
Ostracoda from Jordan (with Joao Carlos Coimbra, Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Sul)
Continuation of my long-term research on Baja California Tertiary calcareous microfauna and microflora (Ostracoda, Foraminifera, calcareous nannoplankton)
Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Mexican lacustrine Quaternary lakes based on ostracode paleoecology and trace element shall chemistry with Manuel R. Palacios-Fest, Terra Nostra Earth Science Research

Teaching activities: Violeta A. Romero-Mayen “Registro climatico en Laguna Salada, Baja California, Mexico durante el Neogeno tardio usando paleoecologia y geoquimica de elementos traza en conchas de Ostracoda”, MSc., Posgrado en Ciencias Biologicas, UNAM (with Manuel R. Palacios-Fest, Terra Nostra Earth Science Research)

Ma. Luisa Machain and F. Raul Gio-Argaez—continue working on Holocene ostracodes of the Mexican seas, especially the diversity and distribution patterns of the continental shelf and costal areas of the Gulf of Mexico.

MOROCCO

Correspondent: Ratiba Bekkali

Nachite, Driss and Bekkali, Ratiba

Neogene lacustrine Ostracoda of Granada Basin (south of Spain) and Saiss Basin (north of Morocco), and limno-brackish Ostracoda from the NW of Morocco
Neogene marine Ostracoda of the north of Morocco
Ostracoda from Tahadart estuary (NW Morocco) with Julio Rodriguez Lazaro (UPV University, Bilbao, Spain)
Ostracoda as biological indicators of the ecological stress in the Nador Lagoon (northeast coast of Morocco) with Zoulikha Irzi (Mohamed I University, Oujda, Morocco)
Holocene Ostracoda of the Alboran Sea with A. El Hmaidi (Moulay Ismail University, Meknes, Morocco)

NEW ZEALAND

Correspondent: Stephen Eagar

Stephen Eagar—continuing a study of the shallow water ostracods from SW Pacific islands. Two manuscripts completed on species from Samoa and Moorea, and currently working on specimens from Tuvalu.

Kerry Swanson, Thomas Jellinek—are currently completing a study of the phylogeography of two new abyssal species of Zabythocypris. Once that is completed, they will then undertake a detailed examination of living ‘species’ related to Echinocythereis and Dutoitella suhmi from a number of ocean basins. Kerry’s MSc student, Francie Gaiger, submitted her thesis in July, 2006. Her topic was to assess how podocopid ostracods responded to the global ‘Stilsomella Extinction Event’, which coincided with the mid-Pleistocene transition.

RUSSIA

Anna Stepanova—my main activities for 2005-2006 included:

Working with Arctic Pleistocene-Recent ostracods from the Laptev and Kara Seas. I have been working on ostracods from this region for 6 years and a lot of data have been analyzed. The major part now is summarized in my monograph published in English. The data on the Kara Sea ostracods are not submitted in a manuscript currently submitted to Marine Micropaleontology.
In addition to the Laptev and Kara Seas, I started to work with ostracods from older sediments (previous interglacial, Kazantsevian) from coastal outcrops from Yenisei River. Recently, I took part in the field trip to the Arkhangelsk region, where we investigated and sampled the section of the Eemian deposits, where I hope to find ostracods and work on this material in the future.
I took part in identifying ostracods from the upper part of the deep sea core (last 150 kyr) from North Atlantic Site U1314, together with Dr. Alvarez-Zarikian (IODP, Texas).

SLOVAKIA

Radovan Kyska Pipik—My research is focused on the Upper Miocene brackish and freshwater ostracods of the Lake Pannon and surrounding freshwater paleolakes, their taxonomy, phylogeny, and paleobiogeography (with Dan L. Danielopol and his research group). This study is concentrated mainly on morphological and taxonomical diversity of Lake Pannon Cyprideis, on the origin and function of the “eye spot” of Serviella aff. truncata. I completed work on phylogeny of early Tyrrhenocythere and I am publishing the taxonomy of ostracods from the Turiec Basin (with Anne-Marie Bodergat).

SPAIN

Francesc Mezquita—My main research topics involve nonmarine ostracod ecology and paleolimnology. I am now working on:

EU research network SEXASEX (Coordinator Koen Martens) on the evolution of reproductive modes in ostracods. Close work with Olivier Schmit (PhD student), Jochen Vandekerkhove, G. Rossetti, and T. Namiotko, 2004-2008. Web address: http://www.naturalsciences.be/EVIRENS/index.htm
Spanish Ministry of Science project on environmental change in the Mediterranean area of Spain for the last 4000 years. With R. Julia (Coordinator, Barcelona), J. Reed (Hull), J. Armengol (Valencia), Laia Zamora (Valencia, PhD student) and others. 2006-2009.
Spanish Ministry of Science project on Holocene environmental change in the Mediterranean area of Spain. With E. Vicente (Coordinator, Valencia), M.R. Miracle, A. Sanz, J.M. Reed (Hull), Javier Marco (PhD student) and others. 2006-2009.
Geochemistry and ecology of Cyprideis torosa. With J. Marco, Emi Ito (Minnesota), Evarist Carbonell.

Julio Rodriguez-Lazaro—Research projects include:

Quaternary palaeoenvironmental evolution of the southern Bay of Biscay. Palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic analyses based on foraminifers, ostracods, and micro mammals. Leader J. Rodriguez-Lazaro, in collaboration with Maite Martin, Ana Pascual and others.
Geochemistry and mineralogy of carbonates from eurytopic limnic organisms with great potential to the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Leader Rosa Utrilla (Barcelona), in collaboration with Pere Anadon and Maite Martin.
Biodiversity (ostracods, foraminifers) in two estuaries of the Atlantic: Urdaibai (northern Spain) and Tahadart (north Morocco): a comparative study. In collaboration with Maite Martin and Driss Nachite, Ratiba Bekkali and colleagues (Morocco).

TURKEY

Atike Nazik—I am working on:

Neogene ostracodes from Arguvan-Parcikan (Malatya-eastern Anatolia)
Devonian ecosystems and climate of Turkey (DEVEC-TR). TUBITAK joint research and development project (Turkish Co-Director of the project—M. Namik Yalcin ve PD Dr. Volker Wilde (German Co-Director of the project)
Interpretation of oligohaline and brackish environments in the late Miocene and Recent of eastern Anatolia (Turkey) (with co-worker Anne-Marie Bodergat)
Salinity and climatic condition of Akyatan Lagoon (Turkey) recent sediments (with co-worker Anne-Marie Bodergat)
Implementation of biogeochemical methods on surface sediments of the salt pan in the NE Aegean Sea and investigation of Foraminifera-Ostracoda-Mollusca (with co-worker Ipek F. Barut)

Thesis supervision:

Deniz Ibilioglu, PhD thesis, Environmental interpretation and micropaleontological investigation (planktonic foraminifer and ostracod) of the Paleogene sequence in the Elazig region (eastern Turkey)
Hulya Yayik, M.Sc. thesis, Neogene ostracodes from Arguvan-Parcikan (Malatya-eastern Anatolia)

Okan Kulkoyluoglu—I and my team are still working on seven different studies related to ostracod taxonomy and systematics, ecology, and distribution. Most importantly, our focus is to understand the tolerance levels of freshwater ostracods and their distribution. We seek to find answers for a couple of questions regarding ostracod usage as bioindicator species, such as:

· Why do individual species differ (if they differ) in their distribution?

· Do they prefer certain environmental conditions, if yes, what are they?

· Are cosmopolitan species (if not all) euryecious or vice versa?

· Are cosmopolitan species good indicators of water and habitat quality?

· Do cosmopolitan species have high tolerances? If yes, what are the levels of tolerances?

· Which factor(s) are most important on their abundance?

Recently, I introduced a new term called “pseudorichness”, which underlines that cosmopolitan ostracods can be good tools for biomonitoring studies based on the ratio between numbers of non cosmopolitan and cosmopolitan species. An increasing ratio suggests good water quality. The implication of this hypothesis requires detailed knowledge about ostracod habitat preferences, ecology and tolerance levels as well as biological characteristics of ostracods.

My students—There are currently 2 Masters (Necmettin Sari, Muharrem Balci from Abant Izzet Baysal University) and 1PhD student (Derya Akdemir from Marmare University) working on ostracods with me. Three others have almost finished their theses. Necmettin is working on the relationship between freshwater ostracods and their ecological preferences in the city of Bolu, while Murarrem has been collecting samples from a small natural lake (Lake Sunnet, Bolu), looking at species seasonal occurrence patterns along with their ecological tolerance and optimum levels. Derya is doing a large-scale collection from a city in eastern Turkey where there is almost nothing know about Ostracoda. She aims to provide ostracod faunal richness in this city along with their ecology and distributional characteristics.

UNITED KINGDOM

Michael Ayress—Since leaving his academic posting in Australia, Mike continues to maintain an active interest in Recent and Tertiary marine ostracods, particularly from the Indo-Pacific and Southern Oceans. Collaborative projects are in progress. These include, with Tony Rathburn (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) marine ostracods from Prydz Bay, Antarctica, and with Penelope Cooke (University of Waikato) fossil and Recent deep sea Ostracoda from DSDP Site 593, Tasman Sea.

Carys Bennett—started a PhD in October 2005, investigating ostracods from the Lower Carboniferous of the Midland Valley of Scotland. The project aims to examine the transition from marine to nonmarine environments shown by ostracods, and to study their evolution. Different methodologies to achieve this aim include identifying the different marine, brackish, hypersaline, and nonmarine ostracods, and using supporting evidence from the sedimentology, macrofossils and palynology to give environmental conditions. Stable isotope analysis of ostracod and macrofossil shells will give an independent indicator of the water chemistry and salinity for the different ostracod species. So far, the project has gone really well and I am currently planning a field excursion to collect more samples. Please contact me if you would like to discuss any aspect of the project.

Ian Boomer—I maintain an interest in Triassic-early Jurassic faunas but most of the ostracod focus is on Late Quaternary to Recent of the Ponto-Caspian Central Asian region in collaboration with colleagues at LSCE Gif-sur-Yvette/CEA-Saclay France (Guichard, von Grafenstein). Also, I am developing links with interdisciplinary groups investigating palaeoclimate records from non-marine and marginal marine sites in Turkey (Buyuk Menderes, Lake Van). I am involved with a proposal for ILDP drilling of Lake Van, eastern Turkey.

I am currently running the new stable isotope laboratory at the University of Birmingham, concentrating on water (cave, karst systems, rainwater) and organics (archaeology, ecology). We do not do carbonates (yet) but I am happy to discuss possible collaborative research (or consultancy) with all. See http://www.gees.bham.ac.uk/research/facilities/silla/index.htm for details.

I am currently the Chairman of the Ostracod Group, The Micropalaeontological Society.

David J. Horne—I continue to be interested in all aspects of ostracod taxonomy, ecology and phylogeny, especially the continued application of a palaeobiological approach to palaeoenvironmental analysis. A particular focus of activity if the EU Marie Curie Research and Training Network project From sex to Asex: a case study on interactions between sexual and asexual reproduction; EU FP6 (Coordinator: Koen Martens, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium) in which I am affiliated with the University of Sheffield group (headed by Roger Butlin) and responsible for biogeographical aspects including further development and application of the NODE GIS database.

David J. Siveter—Ongoing research on Cambrian (e.g., Chengjiang) and Silurian (Herefordshire) lagerstatten continues as do studies on Palaeozoic myodocopes and palaeocopes. New PhD student Carys Bennett will work on “Carboniferous ostracods and isotopes from Scotland: testing for the ecological shift into non-marine environments”.

Ian J. Slipper—I continue to work in my spare time on Cretaceous ostracods, most recently the marine Lower Cretaceous faunas in preparation for the 2^nd edition of the Stratigraphical Atlas of British Ostracoda. My projects still underway include a monograph of Turonian Ostracoda; joint work with Andy Gale on the faunal changes in Cenomanian chalk-marl rhythms; a survey of British Santonian Ostracoda. Ostracoda from the Albian Gault Clay at Folkestone has been submitted to the Palaeontological Association “Fossils of the Gault” book, A revision of the T.R. Jones Cretaceous material in the Natural History Museum; and a work on the Life and Times of William Harris of Charing. I have passed the Chairmanship of the Ostracod Group of the Micropalaeontological Society to Ian Boomer, and I now work as the Editor of “The Newsletter of Micropalaeontology”.

Ian P. Wilkinson—Much of my work these days concentrates on Foraminifera, so it is a welcome break to work on ostracods from boreholes through the last glacial and into the post-glacial. During the last year or so, I have had the opportunity to work on both Carboniferous and early Cretaceous faunas, the results of which I presented at the 15^th International Symposium on Ostracoda, Berlin (excellently organized by Michael Schudack and his team). I have also returned to some assemblages from the late Jurassic and hope to complete a systematic study of these during the coming year.

Students—Carys Bennett (University of Leicester) is carrying out research on Lower Carboniferous ostracods and isotopes of the Midland Valley, Scotland: testing for the ecological shift into non-marine environments. Her university supervisor is David Siveter and I am pleased to be her co-supervisor for this project, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the British Geological Survey.

UNITED STATES

Anne Cohen—I produced a simple website with a tabular key to both subclasses of Ostracoda and all families of Myodocopa—http://home.comcast.net/~fireflea2/OstracodeKeyindex.html. I hope to provide more illustrations this year and improve the appearance on Explorer (it is best viewed on Macintosh Safari). I am currently working on a Cohen and Morin paper providing names, diagnoses, and morphological illustrations, including SEMs, for several new genera of Cypridinidae engendered from our published (2003) morphology-based cladistic analysis of the evolution of the genera and of bioluminescence within the myodocopid family Cypridinidae. A PDF reprint of this 2003 paper and 10 other Cohen papers is readily available on request from ancohen@comcast.net. With James Morin, I hope also to finally finish a description of some new genera and species of bioluminescent signaling ostracodes.

Betsy Colburn—I am not primarily a researcher on Ostracoda, but find them very interesting members of the freshwater benthos and try to include them in my research when possible. My book on temporary ponds of glaciated northeastern North America may be of interest to some ostracode workers. The text discusses ostracodes only briefly, but the Appendix lists all species I was able to find documented from vernal pools and temporary ponds of this region, along with details on habitat, life history strategies, and other information as available. Koen Martens and Eugen Kempf kindly assisted me in getting the taxonomy straight—all errors are my responsibility.

Brandon Curry—I have been involved mainly with the mapping of surficial geology deposits, but have been able to co-author papers and present papers and posters that involve ostracodes. This year, I am calibrating the water chemistry of a hard water lake in NE Illinois with the chemistry of the valves of living ostracodes (primarily Physocypria sp. and juvenile candonids) and using that information to help interpret the biogeochemistry of a continuous ostracode record that begins at about 16,000 cal yr BP. We have found that Sr/Ca is especially useful in our reconstructions. This project is part of a larger study of four sites in NE Illinois to better understand environmental changes during the last glacial-interglacial transition.

Louis Kornicker—presently working on Hawaiian and cave Myodocopa.

Dawn Peterson—My current activities include a long-term multidisciplinary project including the taxonomy and paleoecology of late Miocene to early Pliocene ostracode assemblages from central and south-central Chile. I am conducting research on the lower Pleistocene nearshore ostracode assemblage of the Galapagos Archipelago, with micropaleontologists Dr. Kenneth L. Finger and Professor Jere Lipps of the University of California, Berkeley. I recently returned from the Osservatorio Geologico Coldigioco in the Marche region of northern Italy after initiating a study of subterranean ostracodes from the Grotta de Frasassi.

Mark Puckett—I am an Assistant Professor at the University of North Alabama (since August, 2005). I am currently working on an ostracode fauna from the Eocene of Jamaica. The deposits from which the samples were collected are interesting in that they contain the earliest known sea cows. The fauna includes a lot of the “torose” Cyprideidae, but also includes several new species. I am also initiating studies on Lower Cretaceous ostracodes of Texas. Although these Lower Cretaceous faunas have been studied by several graduate students, many species remain to be formally described. Fortunately, the ages of most of the formations are well established. The combined record of the Lower and Upper Cretaceous faunas of the U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain will hopefully yield a 50-million-year record of ostracode evolution.

Alison Smith—In December, 2005, version 1 of NANODe (North American Nonmarine Ostracode Database) was posted to the worldwide web. The url for this database is www.kent.edu/NANODe. The database currently consists of 600 sites, with associated ostracode species presence-absence data for 89 species, major ion hydrochemistry and climate (precipitation and temperature) data. The data are presented in the form of maps, graphs, and photographs. These sites are distributed throughout the continental U.S.A., with a few sites in Canada and Mexico. The project continues at Kent State University in the Department of Geology. The co-authors are Richard M. Forester (retired), Alison J. Smith (Kent State University, Kent, Ohio), Donald F. Palmer (Kent State University, Kent, Ohio), and Brandon B. Curry (Geological Survey of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois). I am currently working on version 2 which will include more sites and have assemblage searching capabilities. I would be very please to hear from any Cypris readers about topics concerning NANODe.

Frederick Swain—my research interests include micropaleontology, biostratigraphy, and organic geochemistry. Current research includes Cretaceous nonmarine Ostracoda from the North Horn Formation, Utah, and the origin of shale gas deposits, mid-continent USA.

Following retirement in 1986, I have worked on materials that remained in my collections from earlier field work. A recently published book deals with fossil nonmarine Ostracoda of the USA. Over 500 species are covered, from Devonian to Pleistocene, including their stratigraphic distribution, paleoecology and morphologic characteristics.

I recently posted a pdf file on my university web site—Habitat of Silurian Ostracoda from Pennsylvania and Maryland, 2005. The url is http://www.geo.umn.edu/people/profs/SWAIN.html This web site also hosts the following pdf files:

Ostracoda from the River Bend Formation of North Carolina, 2001
Ostracoda from the Pliocene? Pebas Formation at Iquitos, Peru, 2001
Mesozoic Ostracoda from C.O.S.T. Atlantic wells; additions and emendations, 2002; Plates 1-8, Plates 9-14, Plates 15-18
Biostratigraphy of Cretaceous Ostracoda from wells in South Carolina, 2002
The pseudofossil Atikokania in the Early Precambrian of Minnesota, 2002
An occurrence of a species of Allogromiidae (Foraminiferida) in the Middle Ordovician of Minnesota, 2002
Possible influence of Pleistocene permafrost on gas production from Pennsylvanian Little Osage Shale and associated deposits of eastern Kansas; suggestions for research, 2003
Revised stratigraphic index; Swain, F.M., Fossil nonmarine Ostracoda of the U.S., 1999, 2003
Synopsis of Middle Eocene Ostracoda of North Carolina, 2004; plates 1-14
Habitats of Silurian Ostracoda from Pennsylvania and Maryland, Part I
Habitats of Silurian Ostracoda from Pennsylvania and Maryland, Part II

Habitats of Silurian Ostracoda from Pennsylvania and Maryland, Part III
Geologic history of carbohydrates: I, Precambrian; table—inferred carbohydrate record in Archean and Proterozoic Eras
List of all publications

Don Van Nieuwenhuise—Primary research activities include:

Completing SEM work on a catalogue of ostracode “tops” for the Paleogene of the Gulf Coastal region
Finalizing the “Stratigraphic significance of ostracodes of the Williamsburg Formation”
Beginning the stratigraphic significance of ostracodes of the Rhems Formation
Summarizing Gulf and Atlantic coastal Plain Ostracode Zones with graphic correlation
Compiling data comparisons of the Stone City outcrop with the Stone City core, Claibornian Eocene of Texas
Stratigraphy of the South Liberty Dome area with PhD candidate Tat Banga
High resolution correlation and stratigraphy of the Productive Series, offshore Azerbaijan with M.S. candidate Eldar Bagirov
Multi-spectal remote sensing of petroleum by-products, Green River Basin, Wyoming. Defended M.S. thesis Sarah Jacobson
Other minor developing work includes-- Eocene microfossils of Greenland; intermontane basins of Montana; Productive Series outcrops, Azerbaijan; extending hurricane records to 5000 bp on Texas coast.

Carlos Alvarez-Zarikian—My current work is focused on Pleistocene-Holocene ostracods from the North Atlantic, Gulf of Papua, and Greece. During March and April of 2005, I was the Staff Scientist on IODP Expedition 306 which aims to generate and integrate late Neogene-Quaternary climate proxies for improving our understanding of the mechanisms and causes of abrupt climate change. On this project I am working with Anna Stepanova and Expedition 306 scientists Kazumi Akimota and Patrizia Ferretti (benthic foraminifers). In Greece, I have been working in the Helike Archaeological Project with Steven Soter and Dora Katsonopoulou using ostracods and foraminifers as paleoecological indicators. Back in 2003, I finished my dissertation research, which encompassed two independent studies in Florida using fossil ostracods, foraminifers, and their stable isotopic composition (delta ¹⁸O and delta ¹³C) as paleoenvironmental and paleohydrological indicators of natural (rainfall patterns, hurricanes, Holocene climate, sea level) and anthropogenic (management of freshwater runoff, nutrient inputs) forces.

YUGOSLAVIA

Tamara Karan-Znidarcic—is a promising new biologist. She completed her magisterium on the Banat Land (before ISO 15) and has begun work on other parts of the Middle Danube Lowland (otherwise known as the Carpathian Basin).

Nada Krstic—We had a week-long visit from Turkey. Umit Safak was at the Museum in June, correlating her collections from Adana surroundings and other areas of the Neogene of Turkey with material deposited in the Museum. I helped her with lacustrine ostracodes but could not help with marine material.

Last year we held a small meeting where several papers were presented. Martin Gross from Graz was there and visited Belgrade and me after the meeting, to complete his collections of my papers (and some of Stancheva’s that I had duplicates of). There will be some new species dedicated to Nikola Tesla (he was Serbe), a beautiful, small snail Lymnaea teslae from the Mazgos site, and the large cypridinae ostracod Teslacypris below Bukulja Mountain. 2006 is the 150^th anniversary of Tesla.