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 15th ISO held in Berlin, he was elected the chairman of the 16th 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 2nd 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 (6th 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 15th 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 15th 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 15th 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