Palaeontology & Historical Geology
Palaeozoology I – Amber Research
The Senckenberg Research Institute and Nature Museum has been active in palaeontological research for more than 150 years. There has been a Bernstein (Amber) Collection for over 100 years but little research has been done on this collection.
The amber research group which was founded in 2010 focuses on two research fields. 1) The systematic identification and description of the diversity of the flora, fauna and microorganims from different amber deposits. This work is mainly focusing on ecologically and biogeographically meaningful taxa. 2) Actualistic experiments comparing modern with fossil fauna are carried out for a better understanding of taphonomic processes and biases. This is highly relevant in order to establish statements about evolution of paleodiversity in tropical realms, faunal relationships and reconstructions of former ecosystems.
As a consequence of these focuses the research group is contributing to the research areas Biodiversity and Systematics as well as Biodiversity and Earth System Dynamics.
