Palaeobotany

Main research themes:

• Systematics, biology and ecology of late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic plants based on compressions and anatomically preserved material
• The evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, especially in relation to large-scale geological developments
• Cuticular analysis
• Palynology and mesofossil analysis
• Reconstruction of fossil plants, vegetations and habitats
• Palaeogeographical patterns in the evolution of land plants

Running and recently finished research projects

• Latitudinal Patterns in Plant Evolution
• The ecology of the Early Devonian Rhynie chert
• The ontogeny of selected Rhynie chert plants
• Compression floras of the Lower Carboniferous of Europe
• Late Carboniferous, Permian and Early Triassic floras of China
• The Permian flora of the Dead Sea region, Jordan
• The Permian Floras of the Southern Alps
• Late Carboniferous and Permian floras of Texas and New Mexico
• Cuticular analysis of the Cathaysia flora, China
• Palaeobotany in the Transantarctic Mountains
• The evolution of the Osmundaceae
• Vegetation development in southern Africa since the Oligocene
• Quaternary vegetation and climate history of Israel
• Palynology of the brown coal deposits of the Lower Rhine Embayment

Facilities and equipment