The Evolution and Adaptation lab investigates the interactions between (macro)ecology and evolution. The objective is to gain a better understanding of the global distribution of genetic, taxonomic and functional diversity. To this end, we investigate microevolutionary processes in order to understand how these play out over macroevolutionary (i.e. million-year) time-scales. Furthermore, we compare genomic, phylogenetic, fossil and functional characteristics of (mainly) flowering plants (angiosperms) – from tropical rainforests (e.g. in the palm and Annonaceae families) to Mediterranean-type ecosystems (e.g. in the Rhamnaceae and Proteaceae families). For more details on our research, see Research Projects.

Our research approach includes fieldwork, molecular lab work and ecological work (e.g. functional trait measurements from the field, herbaria, floras, literature, monographs, books) and a wide range of analytical methods / tools (e.g. bioinformatics, species distribution modelling, phylogenetic comparative methods, structural equation modelling and other linear statistics).


Contact and Team

Former Head of Research Group

Dr Renske Onstein

Personal website

Postal address

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Puschstrasse 4
04103 Leipzig
Germany

Affiliation

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Leipzig University

Dr Renske E. Onstein

Head of Junior Research Group
Phone:
Email: renske.onstein@idiv.de

Full profile

Andressa Cabral

Doctoral Researcher
Phone: +49 341 9739155
Email: andressa.cabral@idiv.de

Full profile

Dr Sreetama Bhadra

Postdoctoral Researcher
Phone: +49 341 9733176
Email: sreetama.bhadra@idiv.de

Full profile

Yuanshu Pu

Doctoral Researcher
Phone: +49 341 9739155
Email: yuanshu.pu@idiv.de

Full profile

Rachel Souza Ferreira

Doctoral Researcher
Phone: +49 341 9739155
Email: rachel.souza_ferreira@idiv.de

Full profile

Research Projects

Landscape on Tenerife

Rafflesia flower (Borneo)

Tropical rainforest biome (Borneo)

Microevolution and Macroevolution
Macroecology and Functional Convergence

Publications

Publications 2024
Publications 2023
Publications 2022
Publications 2021
Publications 2020
Publications 2019
Publications 2018