Das Projekt "Sub project: Core Project 10 - Exploratories for large-scale and long-term functional biodiversity research - Vertebrate diversity and ecosystem functioning" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Ulm, Institut für Evolutionsökologie und Naturschutzgenomik durchgeführt. Terrestrial vertebrates impact their environment as predators, seed dispersers, and bioperturbators. The framework of the Biodiversity Exploratories provides a unique opportunity to study the functional feed back loops between vertebrate diversity and diversity patterns of other taxa in human-modified environments. By combining long-term assessment of species richness and abundances with experimental approaches we assess population dynamics and species turn-over of birds, bats, and large mammals along different land-use types and intensities in forests and grasslands and link them to important ecosystem processes. The results of our study form base-line data for core and further projects and make an important contribution to the ecological synthesis approach. Data collection from the first two years (2008-2009) underline the necessity of long-term insights into the dynamics of birds, bats, and large mammals to permit identification of the main drivers that influence their diversity and abundance on local and regional scales and to derive possible consequences for functional relationships. We plan to continue our standardized monitoring approach on the 300 experimental plots (EPs) of the 3 Biodiversity Exploratories in order to test a) whether the observed year-to-year differences in diversity patterns and abundances are more likely to reflect short-term fluctuations or long-term trends and b) to determine the main drivers of these patterns. Expanding our approach further, we want to c) link bat diversity and activity to structural parameters of the forest using LiDAR data, d) address parasitation rates of selected bird species in relation to land-use intensity and host diversity and e) unravel the functional relationships between plowing activity of wild boar (bioperturbation) and plant diversity as well as soil structure.
Das Projekt "Revision of basal sauropods from the Middle Jurassic of Patagonia and the early evolution of eusauropods" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Generaldirektion der Staatlichen Naturwissenschaftlichen Sammlung Bayerns, Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie durchgeführt. Sauropod dinosaurs represent one of the most important components of Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate faunas, yet their early evolution and diversification in the Jurassic is still poorly understood. Furthermore, most of the pertinent data so far comes from Early and Middle Jurassic rocks in eastern Asia. The only abundant basal sauropod material reported from the Western Hemisphere so far comes from the Middle Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation of Chubut province, Argentina, from where two species, Patagosaurus fariasi and Volkheimeria chubutensis, have been described. Especially the first of these taxa has figured prominently in basal sauropod phylogenies. However, recent research suggests that more sauropods are represented in the original material referred to this species, and intensive fieldwork in the rocks that have yielded these materials has resulted in the recovery of a wealth of new material. Thus, the objective of this project is a revision of the original materials of Patagosaurus as well as an incorporation of new materials. The alpha taxonomy of the sauropods from the Cañadón Asfalto Formation will be established, detailed osteological descriptions of the different taxa provided and their significance for our understanding of early sauropod evolution will be evaluated.
Das Projekt "Evolution der frühen Landwirbeltiere: Neubeschreibungen; phylogenetische Analysen; Entstehung der Metamorphose bei Amphibien" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Abteilung Paläontologie durchgeführt.
Informationsseite zur Taxonomie und Schutzstatus von Diospyros tetrapoda