Research Projects

Through the collaboration of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) and of YXLON International, a 3D reconstruction and visualization of the reproductive system of the viviparous crown snail of the Fiji Islands, Fijidoma maculata (Caenogastropoda, Cerithioidea, Thiaridae) were created using CT scans taken by the high-resolution YXLON FF20 CT inspection system ... [ more ]

Ideas of force - understood as a cause that brings about change - by no means only permeate physics in the field of natural sciences, but have also gradually gained a stronger contour in natural history as influencing variables or evolutionary factors that determine form, diversity and distribution ... [ more ]

Central part of evolutionary research is the question of speciation. A common phenomena in speciation is the so called “adaptive radiation” which leads to adaptations to previously isolated or newly formed habitats – like islands or fresh-water seas – and annidations (formation of new ecological niches). Well-known and often cited is this for Darwin’s finches on Galapagos or cichlids in eastern African fresh-water seas. In contrast adaptive radiation .... [ more]

With an interdisciplinary approach, the project will assess the literary as well as the natural history source materials and analyze the writings and the collections associated with Chamisso’s voyage of discovery. The project thereby intends to (re)discover an author, whose dual professions as poet and naturalist and whose role as a frontier crosser and intermediary between the study of literature and the nature have thus far been seldom acknowledged ... [ more ]

Species distribution and biodiversity patterns are usually considered separately for terrestrial freshwater and marine habitats. Traditionally, in marine species a dispersion-driven distribution is assumed. By contrast, it is common to assume a vicariance driven distribution pattern for freshwater species.  So far, in-depth studies combining and comparing these processes in relation to each other are lacking. The freshwater snails genus Stenomelania ... [ more ]

Poecilogony in snails has often been discussed, though it could only rarely be confirmed. Poecilogony (that is the presence of two distinct reproductive modes within the same animal species) has mainly been found in “ophistobranch” gastropods and polychaets. We set out to evaluate the proposed poecilogony in Planaxis sulctatus anew. Former studies only presented two reproductive modes within this species – an ovoviviparous development  ... [ more ]

The Andean region in South America is one of the most important focal points of biodiversity worldwide. However, the biodiversity of invertebrates in particular is still insufficiently researched. Numerous undescribed species are still to be expected here. Even of the species that are already known, we hardly know anything. Therefore, in a pilot project, LIB scientists plan to study the terrestrial and freshwater snails of the Panguana nature reserve in Peru ... [ more ]

Southeast Asia is due to its richness in species one of the “hot spots” of biodiversity. This comprises not only terrestrial and marine organisms but also limnic groups, such as e.g. the Gastropoda among the Mollusca, one of the largest phyla of animals second only to the arthropoda (insects, crustacean etc.). However, following the initial discoveries and the descriptions of new taxa and species found in Southeast Asia since the 19th century and surveys in the course of WHO activities for protection against human diseases ... [ more ]

LIB scientists are currently reconstructing historical colonisation patterns of prominent Hamburg water bodies such as the Elbe (Süderelbe), Isebek, Tarpenbek and the Eppendorfer Moor. Various invertebrate groups such as insects (including caddisflies and dragonflies) and freshwater molluscs are used as indicator organisms. Furthermore, an intensive evaluation of historical documents from the scientific archives of LIB is carried out. [ more ]

List of other third-party funded projects by Prof. Dr. Matthias Glaubrecht that were running at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN Berlin) before 2014. [ List ]

Using the example of freshwater snails of the genus Brotia, which is also widespread in Thailand, among other places - perhaps now known to some aquarists as a pretty pet (especially Brotia armata or Brotia pagodula) - we will attempt to gain more detailed insights into the mechanisms and patterns of speciation. Our preliminary studies have shown that in one particular river in the mountains of Thailand alone, the Kaek River system, diverse varieties of these snails live. But why are so many different species found there of all places? And: Are they even "good" (i.e. independent) species in the sense of a biospecies? If so, how can they be distinguished from each other - and above all: how exactly did they evolve? [more]