Section

We use specimen-based, experimental, and modeling approaches to understand ancient fossils, and reconstruct their role in the evolving biosphere and Earth system. We perform exploratory fieldwork in Germany, and work closely with colleagues in Namibia, Canada, the US, and Australia to help discover the diversity preserved in new fossil sites. We are always looking for new ways to use the exceptional collections housed in the Section, so interested researchers are encouraged to get in touch.

 – In collaboration with researchers in the UK and US, we are reconstructing how evolving animals and changing ecosystem structure interacted with moving fluids to create complex hydrodynamic flow-fields. The results of this work are shedding new light on the paleobiology and -ecology of enigmatic fossil groups, as well as how fluid flow patterns may have created ecological opportunity on longer, evolutionary timescales. This work was previously supported through joint funding from the US National Science Foundation (#NSF-NERC EAR-2007928), and the UK National Environment Research Council (#/V010859/2).

. – As part of the ‘E6’​ project funded by the US National Science Foundation (#NSF-DEB 2051255), we are part of an international group seeking to synthesize the evolutionary history of organismal ecosystem engineering (particularly with respect to reefs), and understand how the structure and function of Earth systems have been bioengineered over the last 4.1 billion years. A key focus of this research is producing a single conceptual framework that will allow us to understand to what extent anthropogenic engineering impacts will have predictable consequences on longer timescales.

. – A recently funded DFG project (#DFG 558639296) is focused on reconstructing the evolution of behavioral complexity and ecosystem engineering impacts over the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, through the lens of trace fossils. This work involves a combination of fieldwork (principally in Namibia and Australia), specimen-based research, and – through collaboration with Senckenberg am Meer – neoichnological experiments.

Studies on global events in the Devonian

Studies on global events in the Devonian do continue and – where possible – are regarded in the light of the ‘time-specific facies’ approach. The Upper Devonian Kellwasser Crisis is an example for this, as comparison of certain facies can be traced over facies boundaries. This includes correlations using element geochemistry, gamma ray, and XRF data from the classical section Steinbruch Schmidt in the Kellerwald area of the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge and sections in Moravia (Weiner et al. 2017).

Studies concerning the Kellwasser Event in the Harz Mountains

In the Harz Mountains, studies concerning the Kellwasser Event are embedded in Senckenberg activities in the European Geopark ‚Harz · Braunschweiger Land · Ostfalen‘ (e.g., Schindler et al. 2015; Franzke et al. 2017; Schindler in press).

Studies with respect to the lower Eifelian Choteč Event

With respect to the lower Eifelian Choteč Event, studies are currently under way in Europe, Morocco and North America together with German, Czech and American colleagues. First results on the comparison of sections in Bohemia and the Appalachians have been presented (Brocke et al. 2016).

In the German Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, the focus lies on siliciclastic sedimentary rocks of the Lower and Middle Devonian of the Rhein/Mosel/Lahn area. An example of integrated research with other Senckenberg scientists (e.g., actuopalaeontology at ‘Senckenberg am Meer’ in Wilhelmshaven), as well as with external colleagues, are investigations of sections in the Mosel Valley and its tributaries. Besides the ”fossil” approach, this project offers the possibility of comparing processes acting in Devonian and in modern environments as well. The German Wadden Sea and the coast of Brittany are key areas for understanding shallow marine to land-sea transitional settings.

The collection of fossil Cnidaria – namely the corals – is still the most important one in the section; modern representatives are included for comparative purposes. 25,500 out of the total 94,000 specimens/series are catalogued – among those are 390 holotypes, neotypes, and lectotypes as well as 1,300 paratypes. Moreover, there are several thousand uncatalogued specimens from various localities (mainly from the Eifel area). 

In addition to the fossil Cnidaria, collections of other fossils are also curated. Among them are the fossil Echinodermata – ca. 2,500 specimens/series of which 2,219 are documented in catalogues – this includes 30 holotypes, neotypes, and lectotypes as well as 60 paratypes.

From the collection of Graptolithida, all 1,003 specimens/series are catalogued were recently documented in the Senckenberg database SESAM, including 15 holotypes, neotypes, and lectotypes as well as 48 paratypes.

Parts of the Hunsrückschiefer Collection (mainly the echinoderms) fall under the care of the section, as well as stratigraphic and regional collections of the Palaeozoic (excluding Lower and Middle Devonian).

The Tentaculitoidea with 50 holotypes, neotypes, and lectotypes and 370 paratypes include the material of G.K.B. Alberti (Hamburg).
Since few years, the collection of stromatolites is also housed in the section; presently containing 74 specimens.