ARGENTINA

 

Gabriela C. Cusminsky

Ongoing research:

  • Taxonomic, paleoecological and paleoenvironmental research of Upper Tertiary, Quaternary and modern lacustrine ostracods from Argentina, in particular, Patagonia.
  • Reproductive strategies in lacustrine ostracods
  • Systematic and paleoenvironmental interpretation of lacustrine cores from Cari-Laufquen and Cardiel lakes in Patagonia.

 

Cecilia Laprida

  • She is working on nonmarine ostracods from the Pampas plain and from the Altiplano of Argentina.  The main objective of this research is to reconstruct the palaeohydrological evolution of permanent water bodies during the last millennia, in order to achieve paleoclimatical hypotheses from both areas.
  • She is studying marine ostracods from the southwestern South Atlantic inner shelf from Holocene cores.

 

 

AUSTRALIA

Correspondent:  Stephen Eagar

 

Peter Jones

  • Peter continued palaeontological research on Ostracoda and other small bivalved arthropods from Australia.  A taxonomic note was published in collaboration with Mark Warne (Deakin University) and Louis Kornicker (Smithsonian Institution) on specimens of Polycope from the Miocene of Victoria, hitherto misidentified for 50 years as belonging to the genus Thaumatocypris (Suborder Halocypridina).  As a result, it was concluded that Thaumatocypris has not been collected in the Miocene of Australia, and, in a broader biostratigraphic/palaeobiogeographic context, confirmed the absence of records of Halocypridina during the Tertiary Period.
  • The results of a taxonomic study of bivalved arthropods (Bradoriida and Phosphatocopida) from the early Middle Cambrian of the Georgina Basin, central Australia, with John Laurie (Geoscience Australia) was also published.
  • A taxonomic note was published in response to the reply by Heinz Malz and Alan Lord. (2004) to my 2003 paper on pathological moult retention in the puzzling ostracod species Ankumia bosqueti van Veen, 1932 (Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, The Netherlands).
  • He is presently studying the latest Devonian Ostracoda from the Bonaparte Basin, northwestern Australia; their taxonomy and palaozoological links for correlation.

 

Ivana Karanovic

I have become an Honorary Associate of the University in Hobart, Tasmania.

 

John Neil

  • Honorary Research Associate at Latrobe University Bendigo.
  • Working on microreticulation and its functional and evolutionary significance
  • Taxonomy of the ostracode assemblages from the Batesford Limestone (Middle Miocene), Batesford, Victoria.

 

Anna Syme

  • I am currently working on a post-doc with Todd Oakley at the University of California, Santa Barbara, investigating myodocopid evolution. 
  • I completed my PhD in early 2007, entitled “A systematic revision of the Cylindroleberididae (Crustacea: Ostracoda: Myodocopa)”.  It is available online at http://eprints.infodiv.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00002921/. 
  • I have completed a preliminary interactive key to identifying cylindroleberidid ostracods.  It is available at http://researchdata.museum.vic.gov.au/marine/ostracods/InteractiveKey.htm.

 

Mark Warne

  • Continues his research on the taxonomy, palaeoecology and biogeography of Australasian fossil and recent ostracods (Cretaceous to Recent).
  • Involved in studies on the environmental history of southeast Australian estuaries.
  • Using subfossil ostracod distribution patterns to assess changes in the dispersal of broad salinity, dissolved oxygen, and water circulation regimes through time.

 

 

AUSTRIA

Correspondent:  Dietmar Keyser

Holger Gebhardt

  • Ongoing research on the ecostratigraphy of the Austrian Molasse Basin (Oligocene to Miocene).
  • Information on the scientific collection of the Geological Survey of Austria, including ostracods, and other collections in Austria can be found on the web site:  http://www.oeaw.ac.at/oetyp/palhome.htm

 

Martin Gross

Continues his work on Middle and Upper Miocene ostracods from the Vienna and Styrian Basins.  In 2004 he published a rather extensive paper on limnic to brackish water ostracods from the lowermost Upper Miocene (Pannonian).  Recently, he is focusing his interest on freshwater ostracods of the upper Middle Miocene (late Sarmatian) and the taxonomic part of his theses about mainly marine Middle Miocene ostracods (Badenian) was published this year.

 

Wolfgang Mette

My current work is concerned with Permian-Triassic ostracods from the Southern Alps.  Besides the taxonomic work, the ostracode research includes palaeoecological aspects and the extinction pattern.  A fellowship for a doctoral thesis about this topic has been applied for.  Three diploma students are currently starting to work on the sedimentology and micropalaeontology of various Permian-Triassic sections in the dolomites

 

Benjamin Sames

I recently accepted a temporary position at the Palaeontology Department of the University of Vienna and am still a PhD student at Freie Universitat Berlin.  I am about to finish my PhD thesis (supervisors Michael E. Schudack, Berlin and David J. Horne, London) on Early Cretaceous nonmarine ostracods of the U.W. Western Interior and their application to biostratigraphy and palaeoecology.  Furthermore, I continue dealing with taxonomy and phylogeny of Jurassic to Early Cretaceous ostracods.

 

 

BRAZIL

Correspondent:  Joao Carlos Coimbra

 

Sara C. Ballent

  • Is continuing her investigations on Mesozoic and Cenozoic marine benthic ostracods from west-central Argentina.
  • Systematic updating and temporal and palaeogeographic distribution, especially genera and species, with Gondwana distribution (papers with Robin Whatley)
  • Collaboration with several colleagues (Cecilia Laprida, Analia Diaz, Sonia Fontana) about nonmarine ostracods, mainly concerning their systematics, ecology, and comparisons with extant specimens.

 

Cristianini Bergue

I am working with Quaternary bathyal ostracodes from the Brazilian margin on both systematics and paleoceanographical applications.

 

Joao Carlos Coimbra

Research

  • A long-term project on the taxonomy and zoogeography of Brazilian marine ostracods, with Maria Ines Feijo Ramos
  • Southwestern Atlantic Quaternary palaeoceanography based on calcareous microfossils (mainly ostracods), stable isotopes and trace elements, with Cristianini Trescastro Bergue, Felipe Toledo, and Candido AV. Moura
  • Ostracods from the Brazilian oceanic islands (Atol das Rocas, Tridade, and Fernando do Noronha)
  • Miocene and Pliocene ostracodes and planktonic foraminifers and their applications to palaeoenvironmental and biostratigraphic analysis, Pelotas Basin (southernmost Brazil), with Ana Luisa Carreno
  • Two PhD students

o        Claudia Pinto Machado is studying the taxonomy and zoogeographical significance of the ostracode fauna from the NE shelf of Brazil

o        Adriana Leonhardt is working on palaeoceanography (based on calcareous nannofossils) of drill holes from Santos Basin, southern Brazil (co-advised by Felipe Toledo)

·         Three M.Sc students

o        Demetrio Nicolasidis is working on deep sea ostracods from Late Quaternary cores of the Campos Basin, Brazil (co-advised by Cristianini Trescastro Bergue)

o        Pauline di Mari Leopoldi is studying deep sea ostracods from a core localized in the south of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean

o        Renata Giacomel is concluding a study on planktonic foraminifers and isotope stratigraphy from the Quaternary of the Santos Basin, Brazil

                  

Dermeval A. Do Carmo

  • He is the head of the 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 in planned to take place in the last week of July 2009. 
  • He is working mainly with nonmarine ostracodes from Brazilian Cretaceous basins.
  • In 2006, several PhD students finished their thesis:
    • Fatima Praxedes Rebelo Leite, Miocene paleobiogeography of the western Amazonia, based on palynomorphs.
    • Silvia Regina Goggo-Rodriguez, Early Cretaceous ostracods from Araripe Basin, co-supervised by Dr. Alexander W. Kellner, Museu Nacional

·               In 2007, he is supervising two graduate students:

    • Claudio Magalhaes de Almeida, PhD student, on Cretaceous/Paleogene ostracods from the Santos Basin, co-supervised by Dr. Gerson Fauth, UNISINOS
    • Henrique Zimmermann Tomassi, PhD student, on Permian/Triassic ostracods from Parana Basin.

 

Gerson Fauth

  • Current research activities include the Cretaceous ostracodes from Brazilian marginal basins and the Antarctic.
  • Students include:

o        Enelise Piovesan, studying the Turonian-Maastrichtian ostracodes from Para Maranhao Basin

o        Gislaine Bertoglio, studying the ostracodes from Campanian-Maastrichtian of Pelotas and Santos Basins.

 

Henrique Zimmermann Tomassi

Ongoing research on ostracods from the Permian-Triassic of the Parana Basin, Brazil.

 

 

CANADA

 

Ursula Grigg

  • Retired, working at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History.
  • Revising the “Curatorial Report on Ostracods of the Canadian East Coast”.

 

Rebecca Macdonald

I am a PhD student at the University of Western Ontario in the Laboratory for Stable Isotope Science (LSIS).  I am using the oxygen isotope compositions of Late Quaternary and Holocene fossil ostracodes from Lakes Huron and Michigan to examine changes in water sources during early deglacial times, as well as fluctuations in the climate during the past ~10,000 years.  My draft thesis title is “Hydrology and climate of Lakes Huron and Michigan during the Late Quaternary and Holocene periods using stable isotope geochemistry.”

 

Qadeer Siddiqui

  • Retired, working at the Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University.
  • Continuing work on Tertiary ostracods of Pakistan.

 

Finn Viehberg

  • He holds a Feodor-Lynen Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) to continue his research project on Paleolimnology in the eastern Canadian Arctic using microcrustaceans
  • The Northern Studies Center Churchill awarded him the Northern Studies Award to support his research studies around Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
  • On 16-18 November 2006 he hosted the First Canadian Ostracodologist Meeting at the Centre d’Etudes Nordique, University Laval, Quebec, Canada.

 

 

EGYPT

 

Ashraf M. T. Elewa

 

During the year 2006 I focused my work on one of the distinct phenomena that are affecting biodiversity, it is predation. Several questions arise to mind when we think of this phenomenon; what is behind predation? Why some predators do not benefit from their quarries after killing them? Are there genetic origins of this antagonism between organisms? Why some female organisms kill their males after completion of sex? How can we avoid predation? Answering these questions and more led me to edit my third book with Springer-Verlag on “Predation in Organisms: A Distinct Phenomenon”. Three chapters of this book are dealing with Ostracoda.  The website of this book (as well as my other two books) can be accessed through the following link:

http://www.springer.com/west/home/geosciences?SGWID=4-10006-22-173679911-0

 

 

FRANCE

Correspondent:  Jean-Paul Colin

 

Bernard Andreu

Activities include:

  • Upper Cretaceous of Pyrenees, France
  • Toarcian of Quercy and Grands Causses, south France
  • Jurassic (Callovian-Oxfordian) of Portugal
  • Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) of Bulgaria

 

Jean-Francois Babinot

  • Retired since 2003. 
  • A paper on ostracodes from the Aptian stratotype of Apt area (Late Bedoulian-Lower Gargasian) will be available in the very near future.  Title and publication will be given for the 2007 report.
  • Main activities concern collections deposited at Marseille University with revision and information of species.  Material is mainly of Cretaceous, Neogene, and Recent age.  Parts of Deroo’s collection of Campanian to Lower Eocene age (Netherlands, Belgium and partly northern France, Germany, Denmark) have been given and deposited in the new Paleontological Museum of Provence University, Marseille.

 

Pierre Carbonel

  • Ostracodes and paleoceanography, mainly in Mediterranean area--western Mediterranean with a core 330 m long sampled at 300 m deep, including about the last 500KY.  Also, eastern Mediterranean area, north of the Nile DSF, with cores including the last 800KY.  Collaborations with IFREMER, Brest (Program ANR SESAME), GEOAZUR, Nice (Program FANIL).
  • Ostracodes and recent evolution of the coasts, particularly, impact of anthropisation (Roman harbours between Roma and Naples) (collaboration with ARCHAEORIENT, Lyon, CEREGE, Aix en Provence), Paleolithic presence along the coastline in southern Morocco (collected with University of Perpignan), pre-Columbian occupation in West Indies and occurrence and impact of hurricanes (St. Martin).  In this last study, we use the isotopic data (d18O and  d13C) analyzed on the ostracodes (Cyprideis and Perissocytheridea).
  • Calibration of the ostracodes (coll. With J.-Ch. Massabuau and L. Corbari).
  • Neogene marine and nonmarine ostracodes from Aquitaine Basin and Morocco (collected with J.-P. Colin and D. Nachite).
  • Morphology of the ostracodes in collaboration with D. Danielopol.
  • Thesis supervision:  Chahira Zaibi (University of Sfax, Tunisia) for the evolution of the lagoons along the Gulf of Gabes between Sfax and Oued Akarit, Tunisia.

Jean-Paul Colin

  • Associate editor (ostracode papers) for the Revue de Micropaleontologie
  • Vice-President Reserve Naturelle geologique de Saucats-La Brede (Aquitanian and Burdigalian stratotypes)
  • Upper Cretaceous ostracodes of India with B. Andreu
  • Recent lacustrine ostracodes of Wallis and Futuna with C. Meisch and N. Mary
  • Upper Jurassic ostracodes from Lebanon with J. Dejax
  • Revision of Cretaceous conchoecids with L. Kornicker
  • Nonmarine Upper Jurassic ostracodes of the Ile d’Oleron, SW France

 

Sylvie Crasquin-Soleau

  • I supervise two PhDs.  The first one is on the Late Permian ostracods from deep environments from South China by Yuan Aihua (Wuhan University, China), and the second one on the Permian ostracods from central Thailand by Anisong Chitnarin (Korat University, Thailand).
  • All my personal research in 2006-2007 is focused on Permian-Triassic boundary ostracods.  I mainly worked in South China in collaboration with Wuhan University.  I am working on the ostracods of the Permian-Triassic stratotype in Meishan.  The systematic revision is nearly finished.  At the same time, I studied the ostracods of the parastratotype in Bulla section (Italy).  The paper is in progress.
  • In collaboration with organic geochemistry and sedimentology (Steve Kershaw from Uxbridge University), we analysed the problem of anoxia (or not) associated with the microbialites during the earliest Triassic.
  • I proposed a first outline for the turnover of the Paleozoic-Mesozoic ostracods.

 

Claude Guernet

  • Distribution of ostracodes in the Lutetian of Grignon (Paris Basin)  Systematics and ecology (in collaboration with geochemists from the University P. and M. Curie and with paleontologists of the Museum National d’Histoires Naturelles from Paris
  • Research topics in 2006-2007 include Oligocene, Neogene and Quaternary of the Mediterranean area.

 

Pierre Marmonier

Activities in 2006:

  • Addendum to the description of Marococandona Marmonier, Boulal and Idbennacer; the type species of the genus is Marococandona danielopoli.
  • Description of the stygobiotic crustacean Dolekiella europaea (Ostracoda, Limnocytheridae) from southern France.  A collaboration with G. Zsolt (Hungary), M. Arteau, J.P. Colin (France) and D.L. Danielopol (Austria), accepted for publication in Vie Mileu.
  • Strategy for the protection of rare subterranean ostracods.  We used the example of two species from southern France.  Collaboration with D.L. Danielopol (Austria) and M. Artheau (France) was accepted for publication in Freshwater Biology.

 

Vincent Perrier

  • I defended my PhD several weeks ago:  Vincent Perrier, Biodiversity and ecological significance of the myodocopid ostracods (Crustacea) from the Upper Silurian of Europe.  University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France, 04/04/2007.  Supervisors:  Jean Vannier and David Siveter.  Jury:  Sylvie Crasquin-Soleau, Ewa Olempska, Christian Gaillard, and Catherine Girard.

 

 

GERMANY

Correspondent:  Dietmar Keyser

 

Simone Nunes-Brandao

She is finishing her dissertation on the deep sea ostracods in the Antarctic Ocean.  She is combining the molecular with the conservative taxonomy.  This way she can show that the biodiversity in the Antarctic deep Sea is higher than expected.

 

Claudia Dojen

  • Ostracodes from the Silurian-Devonian boundary in SE Anatolia (Turkey)
  • Lockkovian ostracodes from the Spanish Pyrenees
  • Planned project:  September-December, 2007 at the University of California, Riverside, to study Early Devonian ostracodes from Nevada.
  • Two papers will be submitted within the next few weeks:
    • Dojen, C., New data on Ostracoda and Early Devonian palaeobiogeography:  Bulletin de la Society geologique de France, Special Issue, Contributions to the First International Palaeobiogeography Symposium, Paris, July 2007.
    • Dojen, C. and Ahlers, C., Spezialkartierung der mulde am Glockenberg (Ober-Harz, Mittel und Ober-Devon) mit Mikrofossilien (Conodonten, Ostrakoden, Dacryoconariden, Homocteniden).  [Special mapping of the Glockenberg-Synform in the NW Harz Mountains (Middle and late Devonian) with microfossils (conodonts, ostracodes, dacryoconarids, homoctenids]:  Zeitschrift Deutsche Geologische Gesellschaft.

 

Peter Frenzel

  • I am finishing my Habilitation thesis on Recent and Holocene ostracods and foraminifers from the Baltic Sea and their use as bioindicators.  The focus lies on ecology and taxonomy as well as on applications in Quaternary geology, archaeology, and biological monitoring.
  • An atlas of Baltic Sea ostracods species is in preparation, together with Dietmar Keyser.
  • Finn Viehberg and I are working together on an ecological review, including an ostracod-based transfer function for salinity.
  • After moving from Rostock University to Jena University in Thuringia in 2005, I started a new program concerning ostracods and foraminifers in saline waters of central Germany
  • I am preparing a project on Recent and Quaternary ostracods of the Tibetan Plateau.

 

Eugen Karl Kempf

  • On the first days of October 2006, the second index from level 2 (stratigraphy) of the Kempf Database Ostracoda could be published on CD-ROM with the title Recent Nonmarine Ostracoda of the World.  This Index D covers nearly all modern species, described either as living or dead (if only the shells had been found or documented).  Thus, with more than 27,500 datasets, a unique instrument of reference became available.
  • At present, my work is concentrating on the second set of supplements to the hitherto published indices and bibliographies, forming parts 11-15 of the series Index and Bibliography of Nonmarine Ostracoda as well as Index and Bibliography of Marine Ostracoda.  I am trying to publish a 2007 edition on CD-ROM later this year.

 

Dietmar Keyser

Dietmar 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 P. Frenzel, B. Scharf and N. Aladin.  He also continues the work on the calcification of the ostracod carapace.

 

Alan Lord

  • Several projects on Lower Jurassic Ostracoda
  • Holocene of Portugal
  • Pleistocene/Holocene of Denmark and southern Sweden

 

Friedrich Luppold

My current research on ostracods is to generate a biostratigraphic zonation from the Lower Cretaceous of the Lower Saxony basin.  I am also investigating some wells of middle-upper Albian age from the city of Hannover.  There are some activities for correlation with other wells in the Hannover region.  Jurassic activities are restricted to temporary sections of highway construction sites.   There are some very interesting glendonite horizons, which are discovered for the first time at this latitude.  Stable isotope investigations on special ostracod specie, sediments, belemnites, and glendonites are in preparation.

 

Renate Matzke-Karasz

Ongoing research includes:

  • Reproduction biology of freshwater ostracods
  • Spermatology and investigation of sperm-egg interactions in freshwater ostracods
  • Additional appendages in giant African freshwater ostracods (together with Koen Martens)
  • Taxonomy and micromorphology of freshwater ostracods
  • Palaeoecology of ostracods
  • One of the partners of the EU Marie Curie Research and Training Network ‘SexAsex’.  Anthropologist and chromosome specialist Dr. Stefan Muller and Renate 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.

 

Steffen Mischke

  • I collected surface sediment samples from more than 180 lakes on the Tibetan Plateau in the last few years and established an ostracod-based transfer function to infer electrical conductivities as an indicator of past salinities.
  • In another project, I tried to explore the degree and effects of lake contamination on the ostracod assemblages as a result of oil pumping in China’s largest oil field.
  • I investigated Middle Pleistocene lake sediments in the Qaidam Basin which indicate the existence of a large lake in a presently dry desert environment and hope to receive some more detailed dating to learn more about the timing of lake evolution.
  • I applied for funding for a project to couple existing ice core records from the Tibetan Plateau with nearby lake records, with the aim to achieve a better understanding of the ice core and lake sediment proxies and to improve the ice core chronologies through a correlation of both records.
  • I applied for funds to use ostracods as indicators of past moisture availability in the Near East region.
  • In 2008 I will work at the Limnological Research Center of the University of Minnesota (Professor Emi Ito) as visiting scientist for twelve months, funded by the German Research council.  I will study ostracod samples from central Mongolian lakes with the aim to build an ostracod-based transfer function for Mongolia and northern China after ostracod data from our samples are merged with those from samples collected by Emi Ito and Koen Martens in western Mongolia.

 

Roger Schallreuter

Current activities of Roger are the study of Late Ordovician ostracodes from Sardinia and Ordovician ostracode palaeobiogeography of Gondwana.

 

Burkhard Scharf

Werner Hollwedel and I have finished and published a faunistic work on the cladocerans and freshwater ostracods of Lake Zwischenahner Meer.

 

Michael Schudack

Research:

  • Research projects on the Lower and Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of various areas in Europe and North America
  • Main focus on biostratigraphy, paleoecology, biogeography, paleoclimatology, and stable isotope shell geochemistry
  • Secretary of the International Research Group on Ostracoda (IRGO) for the period of 2005-2009
  • Maintains webpages of IRGO at http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/%7Epalaeont/irgo/irgohome.html

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 (Foraminifera and Ostracoda) of the Lower Jurassic from Gross Schoenebeck borehole, Brandenburg, Germany (Karoline Fischer)

New research projects:

  • Palaeobiogeography of marine Early Cretaceous Cytheroidea (Ostracoda) on both sides of the opening of the North Atlantic (North American, Western Europe)
  • Geochemistry of late Quaternary ostracods from lakes on the Tibetan Plateau (under the frame of a new DFG priority program about the climate on the Tibetan Plateau)

 

Henning Uffenorde

Henning is engaged as an official volunteer at the Museum of the Geoscience Centre, University of Goettingen, after a pause due to various health problems.  During 2006 he continued his work on the published part of the ostracode collection of Lienenklaus (1894-1900).  Since June 2006 he was called in the scientific project concerning the drill site Wallau B98-BK5 (Early Oligocene, southern Hesse) in collaboration with Dr. G. Radtke, HLUG, Wiesbaden, and Prof. E. Martini, Frankfurt.

 

 

IRAQ

 

Sanad A. Al-Khashab (Mosul University)

  • I am working on Cretaceous Ostracoda from different parts of Iraq.  I have many projects this summer to collect samples from the north and from the western desert of Iraq (Jurassic).
  • I have three unpublished papers about Cretaceous Ostracoda; I will finish them in about 4 months.

 

Ibrahim Y. Al-Shareefi (Mosul University)

  • He completed his PhD thesis on the biostratigraphy of Ostracoda and sedimentological study of some Upper Cretaceous from selected wells in northwest and middle Iraq.

 

S.S. Al-Shjeikhly (Baghdad University)

  • Continues his work on Recent and Cretaceous Ostracoda from Iraq.

 

W.Y. Al-Ubide (Mosul University)

  • Continues his research on Cretaceous Ostracoda from Iraq, in particular paleoenvironmental analysis.

 

Nisreen M. Aziz (Mosul University)

  • Continuing his research on Tertiary Ostracoda from Iraq.
  • Research student—H. Khaliel, who just started her M.Sc research on Lower Miocene Ostracoda from north Iraq.

 

Saleh K. Khalaf (Mosul University)

  • Continued his work on Cretaceous and Tertiary Ostracoda from Iraq.
  • Research student:  Mr. A.M. Hussein, investigating the biostratigraphy and sedimentology of Upper Cretaceous-Lower Tertiary formations from selected locations in northern Iraq.

 

 

ISRAEL

 

Avi Honigstein

  • Continues with Mesozoic-Cenozoic studies of assemblages from Israel and adjacent countries.
  • A poster on Holocene ostracodes from the eastern Mediterranean (Maddocks et. al.) was presented at a Geological Society of America meeting.
  • A study on marine Pliocene ostracodes (together with N. Mostafawi, Kiel) was submitted to Stratigraphy (Ilani et al.).
    Avi was on a 4-month sabbatical leave at the U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado, USA with Dr. E. Brouwers, studying Eocene material from Pakistan and Abu Dhabi.  A joint study is planned and Elly is busy preparing the samples for this project.

 

 

ITALY

Correspondents:  Giuseppe Aiello and Diana Barra

 

Roma Tre University

The Roma Tre ostracodologist group (Department of Earth Sciences) is involved in several researches concerning Neogene and Quaternary marine, brackish, and freshwater ostracods of the Mediterranean area:

  • Elsa Gliozzi and Francesco Grossi (PhD student) are working on the late Messinian Lago-mare ostracods in the central and eastern Mediterranean, through the detailed analyses of sediment cores and sections located in northern and central Italy and central Crete.  During 2006, four Italian sections have been studied, located in Romagna (Montepetra section), Marche (Trave and Maccarone sections), and Tuscany (Ponte Ginori borehole).  The palaeoecological analyses , carried out using a multivariate approach, showed that the short (250 ka) Lago-Mare event underwent several palaeoenvironmental changes mainly linked to variations in salinity and depth.  The integration of the biostratigraphical data collected during the last three years led to define a short but significant biostratigraphy valid for the Mediterranean Late Messinian interval.  In particular, two biozones have been recognized and defined (or re-defined):  The Loxoconcha muelleri zone (interval zone) and the Loxocorniculina djafarovi zone (regional distribution zone).
  • 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.  After the revision of the genus Tavanicythere and Loconchissa, work on the taxonomy of Italian Tortonian-early Messinian leptocytherids is in progress, dealing in particular with the subfamily Mediocytherideinae.  This research will also provide new insights about the palaeobiogeography and the biostratigraphy of the brackish domain.
  • Elsa Gliozzi and Maria Chiara Medici (post-Master student) are involved in the taxonomical study of a rich Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene freshwater ostracod fauna coming from the Tiberino Lake, a fossil ancient lake located in central Italy.  At present, at least two endemic Candoninae lineages have been recognized.
  • Costanza Farance 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 collected from the “classical” Quaternary succession cropping out at Monte Mario (Rome).  Through a multivariate analysis approach, several palaeoenvironmental variations have been identified during the early Pleistocene.  Moreover, the Monte Mario ostracod assemblage has been studied in a taxonomical perspective, leading to the identification of four “northern guest” ostracod species.  At present, Costanza Faranda is involved in the study of marine ostracods from the early Messinian Mediterranean interval, in the frame of an Italian Research Project devoted to the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Mediterranean immediately before the onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis.
  • Ilaria Mazzini has spent several months at NIWA (National Institute for Water and Atmosphere), Christchurch, New Zealand, studying the freshwater ostracod fauna recovered from several piezo meters and wells along rivers within Canterbury, South Island, and from lakes and ephemeral water bodies scattered in the North Island.  The research is part of a wider survey, which aims to estimate the biodiversity of invertebrate fauna in freshwater and groundwater environments of New Zealand.

 

University of Naples “Federico II”

  • Guiliano Ciampo is working on Quaternary shallow water assemblages of southern Italy.
  • Giuseppe Aiello and Diana Barra

Our main activities are:

·         Ostracod assemblages of the Pleistocene sapropelitic sediments of Montalbano Ionica (southern Italy)

·         Freshwater, paralic and marine Quaternary Ostracoda of Naples and Salerno Provinces (southern Italy)

·         Recent marine littoral assemblages of Porto Cesareo (Apulia, Ionian Sea)

·         Pliocene circalittoral-bathyal ostracods of Avellino Province (southern Italy)

·         Neogene (Tortonian-Messinian) ostracods of Morocco (Atlantic side)

·         The checklist of ostracods living in Italian waters has been updated.  It is available at the website:  http://www.sibm.it/CHECKLIST/principalechecklistfauna.htm

 

University of Parma

  • Giampaolo Rossetti (Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Parma) is currently undertaking 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 Sea to Asex: a case study on interactions between sexual and asexual reproduction), based on Eucypris virens as model organism (http://evirens.group.shef.ac.uk).
  • At the University of Parma, within the project SexAsex, Maria Joao Martins (Portugal) is carrying out part of her PhD work on “Ecology of ostracods (Ostracoda, Crustacea) in temporary freshwater habitats with special reference to the geographical parthenogen Eucypris virens (Jurine)”.
  •  Valentina Pieri has successfully defended her PhD thesis on “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 alpine springs.
  • Valeria Rossi and Paolo Menozzi (Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Parma) continue their studies on population ecology and genetics of Italian freshwater ostracods (especially the genus Heterocypris).

 

University of Modena E Reggio Emilia

Antonio Russo and Giulia Fonda  (PhD student) are working on Miocene Northern Apennines ostracods and Recent Assemblages, mainly in Adriatic waters under “cold seep” influence.

 

Pietro Miculan

I have very few possibilities to work on ostracods.  However, I continue to be interested in Neogene ostracod faunas of the Mediterranean area.

 

Francesco Sciuto

  • Research fields include the palaeoecology and stratigraphy of Plio-Pleistocene marine ostracod assemblages
  • Ongoing research includes living and dead ostracod assemblages from the Mediterranean and Thailand

 

 

JAPAN

 

Toshiaki Irizuki

  • Taxonomy and paleobiogeography of Miocene and Pliocene Ostracoda around Japan
  • Migration and speciation of Ostracoda in eastern Asian bays during the Quaternary
  • Ostracoda in tsunami deposits
  • Relationships between Recent ostracode assemblages and anthropogenic influences
  • I have six postgraduate students who are studying mainly ostracodes
    • Shigenori Kawano—Temporal changes of Recent Ostracoda and anthropogenic pollution in bays of northern Kyushu, southwestern Japan, during the last 100 years
    • Hokuto Iwatani—Late Pliocene Ostracoda from shallow deposits along the Pacific coast of Japan
    • Hiroki Ogusa—Population dynamics of brackish and bay Ostracoda in Lake Nakaumi, southwestern Japan
    • Asumi Gotomyo—Recent Ostracoda and anthropogenic pollution in Seto Inland Sea, southwestern Japan
    • Ayumi Haruki—Holocene Ostracoda from borehole cores in Omaezaki, central Japan
    • Ryohei Kaewakami—Temporal changes of Recent Ostracoda in Lake Nakaumi, southwestern Japan, during the last few hundred years
    •  

Hirokazu Ozawa is at the National Science Museum of Japan, Tokyo (in Dr. Yoshihiro Tanimura’s lab)

Current research includes:

  • Ecology and taxonomy of modern ostracods in the Japan Sea and adjacent areas (with Dr. Takahiro Kamiya)
  • Taxonomy, palaeoecology and palaeobiology (e.g., origin, extinction, speciation and migration) of ostracods since the Miocene from Japan Sea coasts
  • Palaeobiogeography and palaeoecology of a brackish inner bay fauna from Japan and east-southeast Asia in late Cenozoic, based on ostracods from the Kanto region, central Japan
  • Sexual dimorphism with paedomorphosis on hingement and phylogeny of Loxoconcha species from Japan.

 

Tatsuhiko Yamaguchi

  • Early Eocene ostracodes from Washington, USA with Mr. Goedert (The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington).
  • Examination of Paleogene ostracodes from Hokkaido, northern Japan with Dr. Kurita (Niigata University).

 

Moriaki Yasuhara

I am working on Atlantic deep-sea ostracodes with Tom Cronin.  My primary research interest is to know how Quaternary climate change and human activity affect marine ecosystems.  Further details on my research and PDFs of my papers are found on my website http://ostracoda.net/.

 

 

MEXICO

 

Ana Luisa Carreno

  • Recent marine ostracodes from the equatorial offshore Brazil
  • Cretaceous ostracodes from the Reconcavo Basin, Brazil (with Joao Carlos Coimbra, UFRGS)
  • Continuation of my long-term research on Baja California Tertiary calcareous microfauna and microflora (ostracodes, foraminifers, calcareous nannoplankton)
  • Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Mexican lacustrine Quaternary lakes based on ostracode paleoecology and trace element shell chemistry (with Manuel R. Palacios-Fest, Terra Nosta Earth Science Research)
  • Students:
    • Violeta A. Romero-Mayen, Registro climatico en laguna Salada, Baja California, Mexico durante el Neogeno tardio usando paleoecologia y geoquimica de elemetos traza en conchas de Ostracoda, MSc, Posgrado en Ciencias Biologicas, UNAM (with Manuel R. Palacios-Fest, Terra Nostra Earth Science Research)

 

F. Raul Gio-Argaez

Maria Luisa Castillo

  • Marine Holocene ostracods from the Marine Continental Economic Zone of Mexico
  • Students:
    • Alejandro Matias-Lozada, Diversidad y distribucion de la Ostracofauna de la Plataforma Continental de Tamaulipas, BSc. Thesis Biologist, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM
    • Luis Fernando Lopez Gutierrez, BSc., Thesis Biologist, Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes.

 

Alejandro Rodriguez

·         Finishing my PhD on a late Holocene sedimentary sequence from a crater lake at western Mexico (Lake Santa Maria del Oro) using ostracod assemblages, shell chemistry (stable isotopes and trace elements) and sediment geochemistry

·         Working on Recent and Holocene non-marine ostracodes from other lake sediments along central Mexico

·         Involved in a paleolimnological project, reconstructing the late Quaternary environmental and climatic variability of central Mexico (Transmexican Volcanic Belt).  This multi-proxy paleoenvironmental research project includes magnetic properties, sediment geochemistry, pollen, diatoms, and ostracod analyses.

·         I am mainly interested in:

    • Palaeoclimatic and palaeolimnologic reconstruction from lake sediment analyses, based on ostracod composition and shell and sediment geochemistry
    • Study of the modern ostracods and distribution in the lakes of central Mexico
    • Paleolimnology and ecology of diatoms

 

 

 

MOROCCO

 

Nachite Driss and Ratiba Bekkali

  • Neogene lacustrine Ostracoda of Saiss Basin (north of Morocco) and limno-brackish Ostracoda from the northwest of Morocco.  Neogene marine Ostracoda of the north of Morocco.
  • Biodiversity (ostracods, foraminifers) in two estuaries of the Atlantic:  Urdaibai (northern Spain) and Tahadart (north Morocco): a comparative study.  In collaboration with Julio Rodriguez Lazaro and Maite Martin (UPV University, Bilbao, Spain)
  • Ostracoda as biological indicators of the ecologic 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

  • Stephen continues his work on the shallow water marine faunas of the south Pacific Islands.  In particular, he has been examining the marine and freshwater faunas of Palmyra Atoll and the freshwater ostracods from a core on Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.
  • He made a trip to the Natural History Museum in London in 2006 to examine material in the collections.

 

Kerry Swanson

  • Kerry’s Marsden-funded MSc student Francie Gaiger graduated 1st class Honors in April 2007.  Francie’s thesis titled “Mid-Pleistocene extinction of Ostracods” focused on podocopids from ODP Site 1125 on the Chatham Rise, east of South Island.
  • Kerry and Thomas Jellinek are putting the final touches to a paper which describes inter-basinal anatomical variations in species of Zabythocypris and their implications for our interpretation of dispersal and diversification in the deep ocean.
  • Kerry is writing a book on fossilization and microfossils to be published by Canterbury University Press (1st draft completion data August 2007).

 

 

POLAND

Correspondent:  Janina Szczechura

 

Jarmila Krzminska

Works mostly on ostracodes from lakes of the Late Glacial, from the southern Baltic Sea and its pericoastal areas as well as from Pomerania.  The ostracodes are used as indicators of climatic and environmental changes.

 

Agnieszka Mackiewicz

Completed her Doctor’s thesis on Recent benthic ostracodes from Hornsund and published a part of it in 2006.  She has ceased working with ostracodes.

 

Tadeusz Namiotko

Is involved with the taxonomy and ecology of Recent and subfossil (Quaternary) freshwater Ostracoda and their applications to palaeolimnology, stygobiology and evolutionary biology.  Current research activities include:

  • Evolutionary ecology of reproductive modes in Eucypris virens (together with Dr. Jochen Vanderkerkhove within EU Research Training network coordinated by Koen Martens)
  • Morphology, diversification and phylogeny of stygobiotic and stybophilic Ostracoda (together with Dan L. Danielopol)
  • Reconstruction of climate variability as expressed in the oxygen isotope composition of past precipitation derived from ostracods in the profundal lake sediments (ESF project coordinated by U. von Grafenstein
  • Subfossil ostracods as indicators of present and historical food and habitat conditions for ichthyofauna.

 

Ewa Olempska

Continues her numerous projects:

  • Devonian ostracodes from the Holy Cross Mountains
  • Late Cambrian phosphatocopids from North Poland
  • Carboniferous ostracodes from China.

 

Jolanta Smolen

Continues her work on the distribution of Cypridea representatives in the Lower Cretaceous (mostly Beriassian) of Central and Southeastern Poland.

 

Janina Szczechura

Is interested in Middle Miocene ostracodes and the co-existing microfossils of southern Poland, including the Carpathians as well as the Fore-Carpathian Depression.

 

Barbara Wojtasik

Is working up her many years of observation of Tannocypris glacialis (G.O. Sars) from freshwater lakes from Spitsbergen.  She observed the seasonal distribution, reproduction, and ontogenetic development.  She is simultaneously studying this species in culture. 

 

 

ROMANIA

 

Marius Stoica

  • I am teaching the micropaleontology course in Bucharest University.  I completed my PhD thesis a few years ago on Purbeckian ostracods in Romania.  This is the first paper in eastern Europe (except for Poland) dealing with Purbeckian ostracods.  It is published in Romanian.  I hope to publish the main parts of the thesis soon in an international journal.  I described 47 species of ostracods from the Early and Middle Purbeck and eight new species.  I tried to prove the presence of sexual dimorphism for some Cypridea species.  If anyone needs a hard copy or PDF, I can send it to you.
  • I am now concentrating on Miocene-Pliocene ostracods from Paratethys. 

 

 

RUSSIA

Correspondent:  Anna Stepanova

 

Vladivostok Group, Far East Branch

 

A.G. Bashmanov

He is a post-graduate student in the Far East Branch, Valdivostok group.  He is studying the fauna, distribution and seasonal dynamics of pelagic ostracods (Ostracoda: Halocyprididae) of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent waters.

 

V.G. Chavtur

  • Working on a revision of pelagic ostracods (Ostracoda: Halocyprididae) of the World Ocean. 
  • Fauna, distribution and seasonal dynamics of pelagic ostracods in the Arctic and Southern Oceans.
  • Taxonomy and distribution of benthic ostracods (Myodocopina, Cladocopina) in the Far Eastern Seas and adjacent waters.

 

E.I. Schornikov

He continues his research on ecology, morphology and taxonomy of ostracods.

 

O.A. Tsareva

She is a Senior Engineer of the Museum of Marine Biology.  She is studying the taxonomy and distribution of ostracods of the genus Rabilimis. She is also making a catalogue of holotypes of ostracods stored in their museum.

 

Maria Zenina

She is a post-graduate student, studying Ostracoda as indicators of environments and dynamics of water ecosystems (based on materials from the Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan).

 

 

Moscow Group

Anna Stepanova

  • A comparative study of the distribution of modern ostracods in the Kara and Laptev Sea.  Results were summarized and published in the paper “Comparison study of the modern ostracod associations in the Kara and Laptev seas: ecological aspects”, Marine Micropaleontology, 2007.
  • Collaborative research with Dr. Carlos Alvarez-Zarikian (IODP, Texas), analyzing ostracod assemblages from IODP Site U1314 from the North Atlantic during the last glacial cycle.  Preliminary results were [resented at the 2006 AGYU Fall Meeting.
  • Participation in a field study in the Arkhangelsk region (White Sea) to sample coastal outcrops of Eemian age for future ostracod studies.
  • Completion of micropaleontological analysis of over 250 samples from core PS51/154 from the western continental slope of the Laptev Sea (276 m water depth).  The ostracod, foraminifer, and mollusk data were presented at a number of conferences and together with stable isotopic data will be published in the near future.
  • Identification of ostracods from coastal outcrops of Pleistocene age of the Yenisei River and Yenisei Bay as part of the complex investigation of Quaternary geology of this region (research conducted by VNIIOkeangeologiya, St. Petersburg, Russia).

 

Ekaterina Tesakova

Main activities for 2006 included:

  • Building of a sea level curve based on the results of an investigation of ostracods from the Callovian-Oxfordian boundary in the village of Dubki in central Russia.  The results show sea-level and bottom water temperature changes.  A non-estuarine type circulation of water masses was revealed, as well as other paleogeographic peculiarities of the basin.  Ostracodes proved to be very important biostratigraphic tools in this region.
  • Study of ostracods of Santonian age from the Saratov region (village of Vishnevo).  Two new species were described and their stratigraphic importance has been shown.
  • Study of ostracods of Callovian, Oxfordian, and Kimmerigian age from the Voronezh anticlinorium (village of Trubutsino) and their stratigraphic importance.

Main activities for 2007 include:

  • Study of ostracods from the Kursk region.  Two new species are described.
  • Study of ostracods from the Callovian-Oxfordian boundary of southern France.  The results were compared with the ostracod data from the same time interval of central Russia (Povolzh’e region).  Strong differences in taxonomic composition were revealed between these two regions, although similar trends in the distribution of ostracods along the sections from the two regions were also observed.
  • Study of ostracods from the classical section of Bathonian age from central Poland.  Many new taxa were revealed.  Based on the analysis of the published data, we conducted a paleogeographic study, which showed that there was a sub-latitudinal strait in Poland which had been active in the Bajocian, later closed in the Bathonian, and reopened again in the Callovian.

 

 

 

SERBIA

Correspondent:  Ljupko Rundic

 

Tamara Karan-Znidarsic

She continues her work on Recent nonmarine ostracodes from Vojvodina (northern Serbia) for her PhD thesis.

 

Nadezda Krstic

  • In 2006, she completed her book on Pliocene ostracodes of Serbia.  Its translation and correction took 3 winters (since 2003) and the summer of 2006.  Many colleague ostracodologists contributed to it by sending papers.  Some of them are not acknowledged in the book, such as Ivana Karanovic, who provided a paper on Ilyocypris australiensis by Sars or P. Carbonel on Kovalevskiella in western Europe.  In the book (p. 202, right, near the bottom of page), an error slipped in when Spanish instead of Iberian port was mentioned as the possible source of Vestalenula pagliolii species, recently spread widely in Brasil.  The paper by Cabral et. al., 2005, noticing the presence of this species in the Portuguese port, sent S. Ligios to Belgrade to late (28.03.2007) to be mentioned in the book’s references.
  • The Upper Pliocene Mazgos site attracted N. Krstic for about 10 years and it is now widened with a terrestrial mollusk study (ca. 1% of gastropods, compare Prysjazhnjuk et. al., 2007).  The ostracodes indicate a saline environment with a higher amount of salt than in the Middle Danube Upper Paludinian Beds.  Except for halotolerant Pseudocandona compressa and others in Mazgos, halofile species such as Paracyprinotus salinus and Neglecandona angulata decimai are present.  The amount of species is variable along the column and in areas where are some lenses with a greater amount of terrestrial snails—an indictor of the influence of sedimentological factors.
  • Serbian Lake ostracodes are encompassed, with the other fauna, in a compilation by Krstic et. al., 2007.  They are still insufficiently known and therefore it is not possible to reconstruct the Serbian lake paleogeography.

 

Ljupko Rundic

After a few years of inactivity, I have come back to ostracodes.  Current research includes:

  • Geological mapping of the Libyan desert and Miocene marine ostracodes of Libya (with Khalid Sherif, Tripoli)
  • Miocene marine/brackish ostracodes of Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina.

 

 

SPAIN

 

Julio Rodriguez-Lazaro

Maité Martin-Rubio

  • Quaternary ostracods from the south Bay of Biscay
  • Biodiversity (ostracods, foraminifers) in two estuaries of the Atlantic:  Urdaibai (northern Spain) and Tahadart (north Morocco): a comparative study.  In collaboration with Driss Nachite and Ratiba Bekkali (Tetouan, Morocco)
  • Biomineralization processes in cultured nonmarine ostracods and palaeolimnological application, in collaboration with Pere Anadon and colleagues (CSIC, Barcelona)
  • Responsible for a research team of palaeoenvironmental changes in the Quaternary of the southern Bay of Biscay.

 

 

SWITZERLAND

 

Laurent Decrouy

  • Doing a PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Lausanne. 
  • I am currently working on living and fossil ostracods from Lake Geneva.  The aim of the study is to better understand the way ostracods incorporate minor elements such as Mg or Sr in their shells and how the carbon and oxygen stable isotopes composition from host water is recorded in ostracod shells during valve calcification.  We will also attempt to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental conditions in Lake Geneva using ostracod geochemistry and morphometry.

 

 

TURKEY

 

Okan Kulkoyluoglu

Activities:

  • We have been working ostracod taxonomy and systematics, ecology and distribution along with constructing past history of environments.  Our work involves five different projects.  In general, our focus is to understand ecological optimum and tolerance levels of freshwater ostracods in a variety of environments.  We try to find possible answers for the questions below:
  • Recently, I have introduced a new term called “pseudorichness”, which underlines that the ratio between numbers of non cosmopolitan and cosmopolitan species can provide god information about the quality of aquatic environments.  Increasing the numbers of cosmopolitan species may suggest low water quality of newly developing habitats,.  The implication of this hypothesis requires detailed knowledge about ostracod habitat preferences, ecology and tolerance levels as well as biological characteristics of ostracods.

Students:

  • Necmettin Sari, Masters student at Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu is working on the relationship between freshwater ostracods and their ecological preferences in the city of Bolu.
  • Muharrem Balci, Masters student at Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu is finishing his thesis on a small natural lake, Lake Sunnet, Bolu.,
  • Derya Akdemir, PhD student at Marmare University, Istanbul, is working on a large-scale collection from two cities in eastern turkey, where there is almost nothing known about Ostracoda.

 

Atike Nazik

  • Devonian ecosystems and climate of Turkey (DEVEC-TR), TUBITAK Joint Research and Development project (Turkish Co-Director of the project: M. Namik, YALCIN)and PD Dr. Volker Wilde (German Co-Director of the project)
  • 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 (plnaktonic foraminifer and ostracod) of the Paleogene sequence in the Elazig region (eastern turkey).

 

 

UNITED KINGDOM

 

Martin Angel

  • I am still working on the systematics of halocyprids.  Basically, using CMarz samples from the western Atlantic collected on the RV Ron Brown in 2006 to depths of 5000 m and a series of samples collected by the Japanese in the Celebes Sea in 2005.  This material contains rather a lot of novel species.  The main aim of the Ron Brown cruise was to collect fresh material for DNA sequencing, and 60 species were collected.  The next cruise will be on the Polarstern this autumn to the south Atlantic. 
  • Working with Kasia Blachiowiak-Samolyk (Sopot) and Vladimir Chavtur (Vladivostok), an atlas of Atlantic plnaktonic ostracods has been prepared, which is a follow-up to the Southern Ocean Atlas that we prepared a couple of years ago (http://ocean.iopan.gda.pl/ostracoda/).  This new atlas will be posted on the NHM London website soon.
  • I have been working on the systematics of the genus Metaconchoecia, splitting it into ten genera and raising its status to that of a tribe (Metaconchoecini).
  • I am trying to get the genus Bathyconchoecia sorted out.  I have something like 30 new species of this poorly known genus that tends to be benthopelegic at great depth (>3000 m).  Once again, it looks as though the genus needs to be split up, based on major differences in the structure of the mandibles, as well as carapace characteristics.

 

John Athersuch

  • Commercial biostratigraphy of all sorts
  • Particular interest in West African Early Cretaceous and Caspian Quaternary Ostracoda

 

Carys Bennett

·         I am in my second year of my PhD, studying the evolution of ostracods from marine to nonmarine environments in the Lower Carboniferous.  The study area is the Midland Valley of Scotland.

·         I will be presenting a talk at the European Ostracod Meeting in Frankfurt, September, 2007.

 

David J. Horne

  • In October, 2006, after three years on fixed-term contracts, I secured a permanent post as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography at Queen Mary, University of London.  I maintain my research interests in all aspects of ostracods, marine and nonmarine, fossil and living.  Current activities include the development of a Mutual Ostracod Temperature Range (MOTR) method of palaeoclimatic analysis using European Quaternary nonmarine ostracods.  The MOTR method utilizes the NODE (Nonmarine Ostracod Distribution in Europe) database in conjunction with DIVA-GIS software; a paper outlining the method has been published in Quaternary Science Reviews and further development and testing are under way in collaboration with Paco Mezquita (Valencia).  I continue my GIS and database work in the SexAsex project (European Union FP6 Marie Curie Research and Training Network: From Sex to Asex: a case study on interactions between sexual and asexual reproduction).

 

David Siveter

  • Early Palaeozoic ostracods (especially myodocopes) and Cambrian (e.g., Chengjiang, China) and Silurian (Herefordshire, UK) lagerstatten
  • A paper describing a new Silurian myodocope from the Herefordshire Lagerstatte, the second species with soft parts preserved, was published in 2007.
  • PhD students
    • Carys Bennett—Early Carboniferous ostracods
    • Ma Xioaya—Fossils of the Chengjiang biota
    • Vincent Perrier (University of Lyon, France) completed his PhD on aspects of Silurian myodocopes from Europe (co-advisor Jean Vannier) in the spring, 2007.

 

Ian J. Slipper

  • The University of Greenwich is closing all geology teaching courses; we have one more year to teach out the final undergraduates.  My employed work is now mostly centred on SEM and XRD support for MSc pharmaceutical science students; not many ostracods found there. 
  • In my spare time, I am trying to finish off all of the various projects that I have started—the infamous Stratigraphical Atlas is lumbering towards a completion some 17 years after inception.  This last year has seen me actively writing the British Marine Lower Cretaceous chapter. 
  • I have revisited some Cenomanian material and hope to present data on chalk/marl rhythms at Frankfurt this coming September. 
  • Other unfinished projects include a revision of T.R. Jones’ material in the Natural History Museum; one spin-off from this has been an investigation into the life and times of William Harris of Charing who supplied Jones with material.  I also have a growing amount of data on Santonian Ostracoda from southern England which I hope to knock into shape in the future.
  • I remain on The Micropalaeontological Society committee as editor of the Newsletter of Micropalaeontology.

 

Ian P. Wilkinson

·         Activities involving ostracods have had to take a back seat in favour of foraminifera during the past year.  However, the British Geological Survey has a small project to produce web-based “monographs” called Taxonomy Online.  I am currently working on Late Jurassic ostracods for this project, which I hope to complete this year.

·         I have contributed to a paper on carnivory in ostracods for Predation in Organisms: A Distinct Phenomenon

·         I am preparing a paper on the distribution of some early Cretaceous (Neocomian) marine Ostracoda in eastern England/North Sea Basin.

 

 

UNITED STATES

 

Mark Angelos

  • I continue work on a survey of modern nonmarine ostracods from California.  I hope to make specimens available to interested parties next year.
  • I am in the process of creating a web site database of all the museum voucher material, including site data, habitat data, and species photos of the nearly 100 species.

 

Anne C. Cohen

I have added some material to my simple website, which has a tabular key to both subclasses of Ostracoda and all families of Myodocopa, with recommendations of helpful publications and other websites (added when I learn of them), and a list of my publications.  This free website takes a few minutes to load and is best viewed with Firefox (free download) or Safari, not Explorer.  http://home.comcast/net/~fireflea2/OstracodeKeyindex.html

 

Thomas M. Cronin

I am actively researching ostracodes and foraminifera, sometimes using shell chemistry, from:

·         Lacustrine and marine deposits, including Tampa, Chesapeake, Florida, and Biscayne Bays, eastern USA

·         The central Arctic Ocean (IODP Cruise 302, summer 2004)

·         Lake Champlain post-glacial (Champlain Sea, glacial Lake Vermont, Holocene Lake Champlain)

·         High resolution deep-sea biodiversity/climate records from several North Atlantic deep-sea cores, with post-doc Moriaki Yasuhara.

Published papers can be found in various publications, please email me for PDF files.

 

One interesting anecdote.  It might be of interest that the Loxoconcha Mg/Ca paleotemperature curve we reconstructed for Chesapeake Bay (Cronin et al., 2003, Global and Planetary Change) was incorporated by Michael Mann in his re-analysis of 20th century warming, which germinated the famous “hockey” stick controversy.  Mann integrated the Mg/Ca record into his restudy of 1000-year paleotemperature history (2003, Geophysical Research Letters).  The U.S. National Academy then did an entire volume devoted to the hockey stick curve (NAS, 2006).  And Osborn and Briffa (2006, Science) used it as one of only 14 records meeting certain criteria to further analyze global warming.  In a recent issue of Science, Burger (2007) statistically analyzed the 14 proxy records and we “missed the cut”.

 

If you are interested in reading what I would call a very derivative application of ostracode Mg/Ca, not just for the ostracodes, but the importance of paleotemperature reconstructions and global warming, these blog sites are entertaining.  What you will find is the ostracode record has been accused of being “cherry picked” out of available paleo-records.  Take this for what it is worth, a complex scientific issue, but it was kind of nice to be a cherry, until we were rejected.  We hope to produce an improved Holocene record from Chesapeake soon.

            http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=523

            http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=1797

 

Louis S. Kornicker

Presently working on Hawaiian and cave Myodocopa.

 

Dawn Peterson

  • Research on the marine ostracodes of central Chile and the Galapagos Archipelago; Kenneth Finger is working on the foraminifers
  • Ongoing study on the ecological stress on Ostracoda and Foraminifera in a heavily polluted urban tidal lagoon in Oakland, California
  • With the support of the Osservatorio Geologico Coldigioco, I am studying a freshwater hypogean ostracode assemblage form the Grotta di Frasassi in the Marche Apennines of central Italy

 

Frederick Swain

  • I have been working on habitats of Ordovician Ostracoda.
  • A PDF file has been placed on the internet:  Geological History of Carbohydrates, at http://www.geo.umn.edu/people/profs/SWAIN.html and scroll down to Downloadable PDF files.

 

Don Van Nieuwenhuise

  • Continuing SEM work on a catalogue of ostracode “tops” for the Paleogene of the Gulf Coastal region as the UH SEM has been down for a year
  • Working on revision of the genus Hazelina
  • Completing several papers on ostracodes of the Paleocene Black Mingo Group
  • Gulf and Atlantic coastal plain ostracode zones using graphic correlation
  • Stone City outcrop with the Stone City core, Claibornian Eocene of Texas
  • High resolution correlation and stratigraphy of the Productive Series, offshore Azerbaijan with M.S. candidate Eldar Bagirov
  • 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
    • K/T boundary of Texas