Abteilung Geobiologie
Welcome to the Department of Geobiology!
Geological and biological processes are often directly related, and have greatly influenced the biodiversity and shape of our planet. The Geobiology Group studies the evolution of organisms and the interactions between the biosphere and the geosphere, in the present and throughout Earth's history since life originated at least 3.5 billion years ago. In addition to multicellular animals and plants, which are in the focus of classical paleontology, we are also interested in microorganisms that once made our planet habitable to animals and higher plants, and which have dominated the biosphere for over 80% of Earth's history. We want to know what these microorganisms are, understand their metabolic and survival strategies, and gain insight into how they have had, and continue to make, a lasting impact on Earth’s element cycles. Geobiology is a highly interdisciplinary science. Our research employs state-of-the-art methods ranging from paleontology, geochemistry, microbiology, zoology, botany, and molecular genetics. Geobiological research generates knowledge that can address real world problems, for example the extraction and recycling of industrial raw materials and the rehabilitation of contaminated ecosystems. Geobiology also provides important fundamental knowledge for managing ecosystems, responding and adapting to the challenges of today’s global climate change, and also to understanding how extra-terrestrial geological and potential biological systems may have evolved.
News
Congratulations to Eric Runge for receiving the renowned Paul-Ramdohr Award on September in Vienna for his presentation at GeoMinKöln 2022. Eric compared the characteristics of synthetic and biogenic Fe-minerals with minerals in modern and ancient hydrothermal sulfide deposits. This will improve the understanding of the formation and preservation of biosignatures in hydrothermal environments and thus contribute to the reconstruction of microbial life.
Research team led by Göttingen University describe early occurrence of irregular sea urchins in the depths of the oceans (Bachelor and Master Thesis on this subject available )
Fossil spines reveal deep sea´s past
Congratulations to Jorinel Manuel Domingos – MSc student & valuable member of the geobiology team – whose first author publication about pyrite growth has made it to the front cover article of Geochemical Perspective Letters (GPL).
Pliocene fossil-lagerstätte Willershausen – new geotope station for a word-famous geobiological treasure in Lower Saxony
A new geotope station for the fossil-lagerstätte Willershausen, which was created under the direction of the local history society Willershausen, has been formally handed over at an opening ceremony on August 12th. See https://www.leinetal24.de/lokales for details.
Photo © Dr. R. Hoppenheit
Congratulations on the PhD, Wanli Xiang! (30.06.2023)
JP Duda (2022): Grow with the flow – Exploring the geobiology of ancient seepage habitats.
Virtual Seminars in Precambrian Geology (University of California Riverside)
Award for Jan-Peter Duda
Thrilled to announce that J.-P. Duda has been awarded a prestigious visiting professorship at the world-renowned Northwest University (NWU) in Xi’an (PR China). Furthermore, he has been appointed as overseas academic expert to the 111 Center Early Life & Environments at NWU. News broken by high-level visitors from NWU, including Prof. Shaocong Lai (vice president NWU). Looking forward to exciting Sino-German cooperation projects with Prof. Dongjing Fu and team on early life and deep time geobiology!
Welcome Dmitriy “Dima” Grazhdankin!
Dima was awarded the prestigious Gauß-Professorship of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences, allowing him to join our team to work on the terminal Proterozoic Earth-life system. Photo (from left to right): J. Reitner, D. Grazhdankin, D. Göske
Online Lecture Series "Palaeo Insights" on February 9, 2023 (lecture in German)
International Biosignature Workshop at the University of Tübingen (27.-28.2023)
Open to early career researchers, including postdocs and PhD students.
See https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/242020 for details. There are still a few spots left!
Dr. Yu Pei (Geobiology Research Group) has been awarded the Adolf von Koenen-Prize 2021/22, which recognizes outstanding dissertations at the Göttingen Geoscience Center!
Press release: Glowing fossils: fluorescence reveals colour patterns of earliest scallops
Wolkenstein, K. (2022): Fluorescent colour patterns in the basal pectinid Pleuronectites from the Middle Triassic of Central Europe: origin, fate and taxonomic implications of fluorescence. Palaeontology. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12625 (open access)
Press release: Algae reveal clues about climate changes over millions of years
Rampen, S. W., Friedl T., Rybalka N. & Thiel V. (2022): The Long chain Diol Index: A marine palaeotemperature proxy based on eustigmatophyte lipids that records the warmest seasons. - PNAS 119, e2116812119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2116812119