Dr. Ulrich Kotthoff

Appointments

2008 - ...
Scientific worker at the Geological-Palaeontological Institute and Museum, University of Hamburg

• curator
• paleoentomology
• palynological analyses (Paleo- and Neogene palynomorphs)
• in charge of palynological laboratory
• paleoclimatic reconstructions
• teaching

2004 - 2008
Scientific worker at the Institute of Geosciences, University of Frankfurt

• palynological analyses (Quaternary palynomorphs)
• paleoclimatic reconstructions
• PhD thesis

Education
2003 - March 31st, 2008 PhD, University of Frankfurt, Germany
Title: Climate Dynamics and Biotic Response in the Aegean Region during the Late Glacial and the Holocene: A palynological approach; graded 'magna cum laude'

December 31st, 2002 Geology Diploma, University of Tübingen, Germany; graded 1.3
Title of diploma thesis: Fossil Honeybees and other Holometabola from the Randeck Maar
Title of diploma mapping: Geological mapping of the northeast of Eastern Elba

Research interests

• Palynology
• Paleo- and Neogene vegetation and climate dynamics
• Evolution of Paleo- and Neogene eusocial insects
• Dinocyst-based sea-surface salinity and temperature reconstructions

Scientific expeditions

• IODP Baltic Sea 347 (Onshore Science Party)
• FS Poseidon (2011) Gulf of Genoa (coring)
• IODP New Jersey Shallow Shelf 313 (Onshore Science Party)
• FS Poseidon (2003) Canares - Azores - Portugal (plankton analyses)

Publications

• Geisler, C., Kotthoff, U., Hammel, J., Harvey, M.S., Harms, D. (2021): The first fossil of the pseudoscorpion family Ideoroncidae (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones): a new taxon from the mid-Cretaceous of northern Myanmar. Cretaceous research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105030.
• Schwarze, D., Harms, D., Hammel, J.U., Kotthoff, U. (2021): The first fossils of the most basal pseudoscorpion family (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones: Pseudotyrannochthoniidae): evidence for major biogeographical shifts in the European paleofauna. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-021-00565-8.
• Wriedt, A.L., Harvey, M.S., Hammel, J.U., Kotthoff, U., Harms, D. (2020): The second chthonioid pseudoscorpion (Pseudoscorpiones: Chthoniidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber: a new genus with unique morphological features and potential Gondwanan affinities. Journal of Arachnology 48, 311-321, https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-20-017.Prader, S., Kotthoff, U., Greenwood, D.R., McCarthy, F.M.G., Schmiedl, G., Donders, T. (2020): New Jersey's paleoflora and eastern North American climate throughPaleogene–Neogene warm phases. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 279, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2020.104224.
• Kern, O.A., Koutsodendris, A., Mächtle, B., Christanis, K., Schukraft, G., Scholz, C., Kotthoff, U., Pross, J. (2019): XRF core scanning yields reliable semiquantitative data on the elemental composition of highly organic-rich sediments: Evidence from the Füramoos peat bog (Southern Germany). Science of the Total Environment 697, 134110.
• Müller, S., Dunlop, J., Kotthoff, U., Hammel, J., Harms, D. (2019): The oldest short-tailed whipscorpion (Schizomida): a new genus and species from the Upper Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar. Cretaceous Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104227.
• van Wirdum, F., Andrén, E., Wienholz, D., Kotthoff, U., Moros, M., Fanget, A.-S., Seidenkrantz, M.-S., Andrén, T. (2019): Middle and Late Holocene variations in salinity and primary productivity in the central Baltic Sea: A multiproxy study from the Landsort Deep (IODP Expedition 347, Site M0063). Frontiers in Marine Science 6, 1-22, doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00051.
• Wulf, S., Hardiman, M., Staff, R., Koutsodendris, A., Appelt, O., Blockley, S., Lowe, J., Manning, C., Ottolini, L., Schmitt, A., Smith, V., Tomlinson, E., Knipping, A., Kotthoff, U., Milner, A., Müller, U., Christanis, K., Kalaitzidis, S., Tzedakis, C., Schmiedl, G., Pross, J. (2018): The Marine Isotope Stage 1 to 5 cryptotephra record of Tenaghi Philippon, Greece: Towards a detailed tephrostratigraphic framework for the Eastern Mediterranean region. Journal of Quaternary Science 186, 236-262.
• Dunlop, J.A., Kotthoff, U., Hammel, J.U., Ahrens, J., Harms, D. (2017): Arachnids in Bitterfeld amber: A unique fauna of fossils from the heart of Europe or simply old friends? Evolutionary Systematics 2, 31-44, https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.2.22581.
• Marinova, E., Harrison, S.P., Bragg, F., Connor, S., de Laet, V., Leroy, S.A.G., Mudie, P., Atanassova, S., Bozilova, E., Caner, H., Cordova, C., Djamali, M., Filipova-Marinova, M., Gerasimenko, N., Jahns, S., Kouli, K., Kotthoff, U., Kvavadze, E., Lazarova, M., Novenko, E., Ramezani, E., Röpke, A., Shumilovskikh, L., Tanţău, I., Tonkov, S. (2017): Pollen-derived biomes in the Eastern Mediterranean-Black Sea-Caspian-Corridor. Journal of Biogeography, doi: 10.1111/jbi.13128.
• Kotthoff, U., Groeneveld, J., Ash, J.L., Fanget, A.-S., Quintana Krupinski N., Peyron, O., Stepanova, A., Warnock, J., van Helmond N.A.G.M., Passey, B.H., Clausen, O.R., Bennike, O., Andrén, E., Granoszewski, W., Andrén, T., Filipson, H.L., Seidenkrantz, M.-S., Slomp, C.P., Bauersachs, T. (2017): Reconstructing Holocene temperature and salinity variations in the western Baltic Sea region: a multi-proxy comparison from the Little Belt (IODP Expedition 347, Site M0059). Biogeoscience 14, 5607-5632.
• Papadomanolaki, N.M., Dijkstra, N., van Helmond, N.A.G.M., Hagens, M., Bauersachs, T., Kotthoff, U., Sangiorgi, F., Slomp, C.P. (2017): Controls of the onset and termination of past hypoxia in the Baltic Sea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 490, 347-354.
• Prader, S., Kotthoff, U., McCarthy, F.M.G., Schmiedl, G., Donders, T.H., Greenwood, D.R. (2017): Vegetation and climate development of the New Jersey hinterland during the late Middle Miocene (IODP Expedition 313 Site M0027). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 485, 854-868.
• Warnock, J.P., Bauersachs, T., Kotthoff, U., Brandt, H.-T., Andrén, E. (2017/2018): Holocene environmental history of the Ångermanälven Estuary, northern Baltic Sea. Boreas, doi: 10.1111/bor.12281. ISSN 0300-9483.
• Peyron, O., Combourieu-Nebout, N., Brayshaw, D., Goring, S., Andrieu-Ponel, V., Desprat, S., Fletcher, W., Gambin, B., Ioakim, C., Joannin, S., Kotthoff, U., Kouli, K., Montade, V., Pross, J., Sadori, L., Magny, M. (2017): Precipitation changes in the Mediterranean basin during the Holocene from terrestrial and marine pollen records: a model–data comparison, Climate of the Past 13, 249-265, doi: 10.5194/cp-13-249-2017.
• Pross, J., Koutsodendris, A., Christanis, K., Fischer, T., Fletcher, W,J,m Hardiman, M., Kalaitzidis, S., Knipping, M., Kotthoff, U., Milner, A.M., Müller, U.C., Schmiedl, G., Siavalas, G., Tzedakis, P.C., Wulf, S. (2015): The 1.35-Ma-long terrestrial climate archive of Tenaghi Philippon, northeastern Greece: Evolution, exploration, and perspectives for future research. Newsletters on Stratigraphy 48, 253-276. doi: 10.1127/nos/2015/0063.
• Triantaphyllou, M.V., Gogou, A., Bouloubassi, I., Dimiza, M., Kouli, K., Rousakis, G., Kotthoff, U., Emeis, K.C., Papanikolaou, M., Athanasiou, M., Parinos, C., Ioakim, C., Lykousis, V. (2014): Evidence for a warm and humid Mid-Holocene episode in the Aegean and northern Levantine Seas (Greece, NE Mediterranean). Regional Environmental Change 14, 1697-1712. doi: 10.1007/s10113-013-0495-6.
• Kotthoff, U., Greenwood, D.R., McCarthy, F.M.G., Müller-Navarra, K., Prader, S., Hesselbo, S.P. (2014): Late Eocene to middle Miocene (33 to 13 million years ago) vegetation and climate development on the North American Atlantic Coastal Plain (IODP Expedition 313, Site M0027). Climate of the Past 10, 1523-1539. doi: 10.5194/cp-10-1523-2014.
• McCarthy, F.M.G., Katz, M.E., Kotthoff, U., Browning, J.V., Miller, K.G., Zanatta, R., Williams, R.H., Drljepan, M., Hesselbo, S.P., Bjerrum, C.J., Mountain, G.S. (2013): Sea level control of New Jersey margin architecture: palynological evidence from IODP Expedition 313. Geosphere 9, 1457-1487. doi:10.1130/GES00853.1.
• Fang, L., Bjerrum, C.J., Hesselbo, S.P., Kotthoff, U., McCarthy, F.M.G., Huang, B., Ditchfield, P.W., (2013): Carbon-isotope stratigraphy from terrestrial organic matter through the Monterey Event, Miocene, New Jersey margin (IODP Expedition 313). Geosphere 9, 1303-1318.
• Kotthoff, U., Wappler, T., Engel, M.S. (2013): Greater past disparity and diversity hints at ancient migrations of European honey bee lineages into Africa and Asia. Journal of Biogeography 40, 1832-1838. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12151.
• Peyron, O., Goring, S., Dormoy, I., Kotthoff, U., Pross, J., de Beaulieu, J.-L., Drescher-Schneider, R., Vannière, B., Magny, M. (2011): Holocene seasonality changes in the central Mediterranean region reconstructed from the pollen sequences of Lake Accesa (Italy) and Tenaghi Philippon (Greece). The Holocene 21, 131–146.
• Müller, U.C., Pross, J., Tzedakis, P.C., Gamble, C., Kotthoff, U., Schmiedl, G., Wulf, S., Christanis, K., (2011): The role of climate in the spread of modern humans into Europe. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 273-279.
• Kotthoff, U., Wappler, T., Engel, M.S. (2011b): Miocene honey bees from the Randeck Maar of southwestern Germany (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Zookeys 96, 11-37.
• Kotthoff, U., Koutsodendris, A., Pross, J., Schmiedl, G., Bornemann, A., Kaul, C., Marino, G., Peyron, O., Schiebel, R. (2011a): Impact of late glacial cold events in the Northern Aegean region, reconstructed from integrated marine and terrestrial proxy data. Journal of Quaternary Science 26, 86-96.
• Schmiedl, G., Kuhnt, T., Ehrmann, W., Emeis, K.-C., Hamann, Y., Kotthoff, U., Dulski, P., Pross, J. (2010): Climatic forcing and regional differentiation of eastern Mediterranean deep-water formation and benthic ecosystems during the past 22 000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 3006-3020.
• Koutsodendris, A., Müller, U.C., Pross, J., Brauer, A., Kotthoff, U., Lotter, A.F. (2010): Vegetation dynamics and climate variability during the Holsteinian interglacial based on a pollen record from Dethlingen, North Germany. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 3298-3307.
• Pross, J., Houben, A.P.J., van Simaeys, S., Williams, G.L., Kotthoff, U., Coccioni, R., Wilpshaar, M., Brinkhuis, H. (2010): Umbria-Marche revisited: A refined magnetostratigraphic calibration of dinoflagellate cyst events for the Oligocene of the Western Tethys. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 158, 213-235.
• Pross, J., Kotthoff, U., Müller, U.C., Peyron, O., Dormoy, I., Schmiedl, G., Kalaitzidis, S., Smith, A.M. (2009): Massive perturbation in terrestrial ecosystems of the Eastern Mediterranean region associated with the 8.2 kyr climatic event. Geology 37, 887-890.
• Mertens, K.N., Ribeiro, S., Bouimetarhan, I., Caner, H., Combourieu-Nebout, N., Dale, B., De Vernal, A., Ellegaard, M., Filipova, M., Godhe, A., Goubert, E., Grøsfjeld, K., Holzwarth, U., Kotthoff, U., Leroy, S.A.G., Londeix, L., Marret, F., Matsuoka, K., Mudie, P.J., Naudts, L., Peña-Manjarrez, J.L., Persson, A., Popescu, S.-M., Pospelova, V., Sangiorgi, F., Van Der Meer, M.T.J., Vink, A., Zonneveld, K.A.F., Vercauteren, D., Vlassenbroeck, J., Louwye, S. (2008). Process length variation in cysts of a dinoflagellate, Lingulodinium machaerophorum, in surface sediments investigating its potential as a salinity proxy. Marine Micropaleontology 70, 54-69.
• Combourieu Nebout, N., Peyron, O., Dormoy, I., Desprat, S., Beaudouin, C., Kotthoff, U., Marret, F. (2009). Rapid climatic variability in the west Mediterranean during the last 25 000 years from high resolution pollen data. Climate of the Past 5, 503-521.
• Dormoy, I., Peyron, O., Combourieu Nebout, N., Goring, S., Kotthoff, U., Magny, M., Pross, J. (2009). Terrestrial climate variability and seasonality changes in the Mediterranean region between 15 000 and 4000 years BP deduced from marine pollen records. Climate of the Past 5, 615-632.
• Kotthoff, U., Müller, U.C., Pross, J., van de Schootbrugge, B., Schmiedl, G., Schulz, H. (2008a): Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation dynamics in the Aegean region: An integrated view based on pollen data from marine and terrestrial archives. The Holocene 18, 1019-1032.
• Kotthoff, U., Pross, J., Müller, U.C., Peyron, O., Schmiedl, G., Schulz, H., Bordon, A. (2008b): Climate dynamics in the borderlands of the Aegean Sea during formation of Sapropel S1 deduced from a marine pollen record. Quaternary Science Reviews 27, 832-845.
• Kotthoff, U. & Schmid, U. (2005): A new fossil hoverfly (Insecta, Diptera: Syrphidae) from the Randeck Maar (Early Miocene, SW Germany). Palaeontology 48, 1091-1096.

Popular/not-peer-reviewed science publications, IODP Proceedings etc.

• Haug, C., Reumer, J.W.F., Haug, J.W.T. et al. incl. Kotthoff, U. (2020): Comment on the letter of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) dated April 21, 2020 regarding “Fossils from conflict zones and reproducibility of fossil-based scientific data”: Myanmar amber. Paläontologische Zeitschrift. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-020-00522-x
• Ahrens J., Harms D., Dunlop J.A., Kotthoff, U. (2019): Pseudoscorpions in Bitterfeld amber – a survey. Mauritiana 37, 113-147.
• Lehmann, J., Kotthoff, U. (2018): Insektensterben – das Ende der erfolgreichsten Tiergruppe unseres Planeten? Fossilien 2, 8-12.
• Prader, S., Kotthoff, U., McCarthy, F. M. G., Schmiedl, G., Donders, T. H., Greenwood, D. R. (2018): Plants in movement – Floristic and climatic characterization of the New Jersey hinterland during the Palaeogene–Neogene transition in relation to major glaciation events, Biogeosciences Discussions, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2017-511.
• Kotthoff, U. (2017): Darmflagellaten und Blütenstaub – Evolutionäre Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Insekten und Pflanzen. Natur und Wissen – Mitteilungen aus dem Naturwissenschaftlichen Verein in Hamburg 14, 14-16. ISSN 1614-0931.
• Andrén, T., Jørgensen, B.B., Cotterill, C., Green, S., and the IODP Expedition 347 Scientific Party (2015): IODP Expedition 347: Baltic Sea basin paleoenvironment and biosphere. Scientific Drilling, 20:1–12.
• Andrén, T., Jørgensen, B.B., Cotterill, C., Green, S., and the Expedition 347 Scientists (2015): Baltic Sea Paleoenvironment. Proceedings of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, 347, College Station, TX (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program), 2015.
• Mountain, G. S., Proust, J.-N., McInroy, D., Cotterill, C, and the Expedition 313 scientists (2010): New Jersey Shallow Shelf. Proceedings of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, 313, Tokyo (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International, Inc.), 2010.
• Brandt, A., Kotthoff, U. & Kranz, G. (2010): Naturwissenschaftliche Museen und Sammlungen der Universität Hamburg. ISBN: 978-3-00-031816-0, 68 Seiten.
• Pross, J., Tzedakis, P., Schmiedl, G., Christanis, K., Hooghiemstra, H., Müller, U.C., Kotthoff, U., Kalaitzidis, S., Milner, A. (2007): Tenaghi Philippon Re-Visited: Drilling a Continuous Lower-Latitude Terrestrial Climate Archive of the Last 250,000 Years. Scientific Drilling 5, 30-32.
• Kotthoff, U. (2005): Über einige Hymenoptera (Insecta) aus dem Unter-Miozän des Randecker Maars (Schwäbische Alb, Südwestdeutschland). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde Serie B 355, 25 pp.
• Pross, J., Kotthoff, U., Zonneveld, K.A.F. (2004): Organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts as paleo­environmental indicators in the Meso- and Cenozoic: potential and limits. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 78, 5-39.

Teaching experience
Classes at the Institute of Geosciences, University of Hamburg

• Applied Micropaleontology: Palynology
• Micropaleontology
• Applied Paleontology
• Paleontology of Tetrapods
• Paleontology of Arthropods
• Paleobiology
• Paleobotany and Palynology
• Field trip: 'Wattenmeer'

Classes at the Institute of Geosciences, University of Frankfurt

• Introduction to Micropaleontology (2008): Pollen (4 h)
• Geology I, Fossils (2007): Brachiopods and Bivalves (2 h)
• Introduction to Paleontology (2006, 2007): Arthropods (3 h)
• Paleoceanography (2005): Plankton (3 h)
• Introduction to Paleontology (2005, 2006, 2007): Protists (3 h)
• Introduction to Paleontology (2005): Biostratigraphy and Biogeography (3 h)

Public relations and supervising

• Organisation of the contributions of the Geological-Palaeontological Museum to the "Lange Nacht der Museen Hamburg" in (2009 - 2013)
• Supervising palynology-related B.Sc. and M.Sc. theses (since 2010)
• At regular intervals: public presentations dealing with paleoclimate- and paleontology related topics
• Darwin Year 2009: "How to become eusocial? Evolution of social insects - Theories and fossil record" (Acadamy of Sciences, Hamburg, 2009)
• At regular intervals: guided tours in the Paleontological Museum of the Institute of Geosciences, University of Hamburg (2008 - 2013)
• Summer of Geosciences: "On the pollen trail of vegetation - a workshop for children between 5 and 8 years" (Children's Academy, Fulda, 2008)
• Engaged in M.Sc. thesis supervising (University of Frankfurt, 2007)
• At regular intervals: guided tours in the Paleontological Museum of the Institute of Geosciences, Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen (2000 - 2004)

Synergistic activities

• Co-editor and co-author of the catalogue of the Naturwissenschaftliche Museen and Collections Hamburg VNSH (2010)
• Reviewer for Marine Micropaleontology
• Reviewer for Quaternary Science Reviews
• Reviewer for Climate of the Past
• Reviewer for Journal of Quaternary Science
• Reviewer for Palaeontology
• Member of the EGU
• Member of IODP
• Member of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft