Our research and teaching are deeply rooted in organismal biology, i.e. the study of structure, function, and evolution at the level of the organism. We focus on questions of plant diversity – How have key structural features such as the angiosperm flower evolved? How is morphological diversity distributed among taxa? How are different structural features correlated with one another? Why are certain morphologies common and have evolved repeatedly while others are rare? We address these and related questions across a broad range of taxa and apply state-of-the art techniques as well as novel theoretical approaches to answer them.
News
- Press release University of Vienna:
Bumble bees pollinated linden flowers already 24 million years ago – 22. September 2025 - scilog-Article Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (german):
Wie Tropenpflanzen zu ihren Bestäubern finden – 18. October 2023 - Online-Article mediaportal University of Vienna (german):
ERC Starting Grant für Agnes Dellinger – 5. September 2023
Recent Publications 2023-2026
Showing entries 31 - 57 out of 57
2024
Purgina, C., Ulrich, S., Weber, M., & Grimsson, F. (2024). Morphological and Ultrastructural Features of Selected Epidendroideae Pollen Dispersal Units and New Insights into Their Chemical Nature. Plants, 13(8), Article 1114. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13081114
Ulrich, S., Vieira, M., Coiro, M., Bouchal, J. M., Geier, C., Jacobs, B. F., Currano, E. D., Lenz, O. K., Wilde, V., Zetter, R., & Grimsson, F. (2024). Origin and Early Evolution of Hydrocharitaceae and the Ancestral Role of Stratiotes. Plants, 13(7), Article 1008. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13071008
Quan, Y., Deng, S., Prenafeta-Boldủ, F. X., Mayer, V. E., Muggia, L., Cometto, A., Vicente, V. A., da Silva, N. M., Grisolia, M. E., Song, Y., Ahmed, S. A., Niu, X., de Souza Lima, B. J. F., Feng, P., Vitale, R. G., Teixeira, M., Sudhadham, M., de Azevedo, C. P. E. S., Bocca, A., ... de Hoog, S. (2024). The origin of human pathogenicity and biological interactions in Chaetothyriales. Fungal Diversity, 125(1), 99-120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13225-023-00518-3
Simón-Porcar, V., Escudero, M., Santos-Gally, R., Sauquet, H., Schönenberger, J., Johnson, S. D., & Arroyo, J. (2024). Convergent evolutionary patterns of heterostyly across angiosperms support the pollination-precision hypothesis. Nature Communications, 15(1), Article 1237. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45118-0
López-Martínez, A. M., Magallón, S., von Balthazar, M., Schönenberger, J., Sauquet, H., & Chartier, M. (2024). Angiosperm flowers reached their highest morphological diversity early in their evolutionary history. New Phytologist, 241(3), 1348-1360. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19389
Silva, S. J. B. D., Leme, F. M., Franco, A. P. S. D. A., Arruda, R. D. C. D. O., Schönenberger, J., & Alves, F. M. (2024). Comparative floral anatomy and evolutionary interpretations of cryptic dioecy in Ocotea velloziana (Lauraceae). Rodriguésia, 75, Article e01522023.2024.
Barrajon-Santos, V., Nepel, M., Hausmann, B., Voglmayr, H., Woebken, D., & Mayer, V. E. (2024). Dynamics and drivers of fungal communities in a multipartite ant-plant association. BMC Biology, 22(1), Article 112. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-024-01897-y
Gross, M., Prieto, J., Grimsson, F., & Bojar, H.-P. (2024). Hyena and ‘false’ sabre-toothed cat coprolites from the late Middle Miocene of south-eastern Austria. Historical Biology, 36(9), 1903-1922. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2023.2237979
Bouchal, J. M., Geier, C., Ulrich, S., Wilde, V., Lenz, O. K., Zetter, R., & Grimsson, F. (2024). Qualitative LM and SEM study of the Messel palynoflora: part I. Algae to Vitales. Grana, 63(3), 193-246. https://doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2024.2375209
Bouchal, J. M., Grimsson, F., Zetter, R., & Denk, T. (2024). The late middle Eocene palynoflora of Hareø, West Greenland: polar forests in a vanishing greenhouse world. Grana, 63(2), 71-159. Article 2339495. https://doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2024.2339495
2023
Nepel, M., Mayer, V. E., Barrajon-Santos, V., & Woebken, D. (2023). Bacterial diversity in arboreal ant nesting spaces is linked to colony developmental stage. Communications Biology, 6(1), Article 1217. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05577-5
Vieira, M., Bouchal, J. M., Geier, C., Ulrich, S., Zetter, R., & Grimsson, F. (2023). Earliest fossil pollen records of endemic African Sclerosperma palms and the palaeoecological aspects of the genus. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 317, Article 104954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2023.104954
Dellinger, A. S., Hamilton, A. M., Wessinger, C. A., & Smith, S. (2023). Opposing patterns of altitude-driven pollinator turnover in the tropical and temperate Americas. The American Naturalist: a bi-monthly journal devoted to the advancement and correlation of the biological sciences, 202(2), 152-165. https://doi.org/10.1086/725017
Herting, J., Schönenberger, J., & Sauquet, H. (2023). Profile of a flower: How rates of morphological evolution drive floral diversification in Ericales and angiosperms. American journal of botany, 110(8), Article e16213. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16213
López-Martínez, A. M., Schönenberger, J., von Balthazar-Schönenberger, A. M. L., González-Martínez, C. A., Ramírez-Barahona, S., Sauquet, H., & Magallón, S. (2023). Integrating Fossil Flowers into the Angiosperm Phylogeny Using Molecular and Morphological Evidence. Systematic Biology, 72(4), 837-855. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syad017
Gegenbauer, C., Bellaire, A., Schintlmeister, A., Schmid, M. C., Kubicek, M., Voglmayr, H., Zotz, G., Richter, A., & Mayer, V. (2023). Exo- and endophytic fungi enable rapid transfer of nutrients from ant waste to orchid tissue. New Phytologist, 238(5), 2210-2223. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18761
Dellinger, A. S., Hanusch, D., Oswald, M., Fernández-Fernández, D., & Schönenberger, J. (2023). Using geometric morphometrics to determine the “fittest” floral shape: A case study in large-flowered, buzz-pollinated Meriania hernandoi. American journal of botany, 110(6), Article e16183. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16183
Malaikanok, P., Grimsson, F., Denk, T., & Phuphumirat, W. (2023). Community assembly of tropical Fagaceae-dominated forests in Thailand dates back at least to the Late Palaeogene. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 202(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boac075
Anderson, B., Pannell, J., Billiard, S., Burgarella, C., de Boer, H., Dufay, M., Helmstetter, A. J., Méndez, M., Otto, S. P., Roze, D., Sauquet, H., Schoen, D., Schönenberger, J., Vallejo-Marin, M., Zenil-Ferguson, R., Käfer, J., & Glémin, S. (2023). Opposing effects of plant traits on diversification. Iscience, 26(4), Article 106362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.106362
Tenhumberg, B., Dellinger, A., & Smith, S. D. (2023). Modelling pollinator and nonpollinator selection on flower colour variation. Journal of Ecology, 111(4), 746-760. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14057
Helmstetter, A. J., Zenil-Ferguson, R., Sauquet, H., Otto, S. P., Méndez, M., Vallejo-Marin, M., Schönenberger, J., Burgarella, C., Anderson, B., de Boer, H., Glémin, S., & Käfer, J. (2023). Trait-dependent diversification in angiosperms: Patterns, models and data. Ecology Letters, 26(4), 640-657. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14170
Geier, C., Bouchal, J. M., Ulrich, S., Uhl, D., Wappler, T., Wedmann, S., Zetter, R., & Grimsson, F. (2023). Collecting in situ/adhered pollen from fossil compressed angiosperm flowers. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 310, 1-6. Article 104831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2022.104831
Vieira, M., Grímsson, F., Denk, T., & Zetter, R. (2023). Niche evolution versus niche conservatism and habitat loss determine persistence and extirpation in late Neogene European Fagaceae. Quaternary Science Reviews, 300, Article 107896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107896
Pan, A. D., Jacobs, B. F., Bush, R. T., de la Estrella, M., Grímsson, F., Herendeen, P. S., van der Burgt, X. M., & Currano, E. D. (2023). First evidence of a monodominant (Englerodendron, Amherstieae, Detarioideae, Leguminosae) tropical moist forest from the early Miocene (21.73 Ma) of Ethiopia. PLoS ONE, 18(1), Article e0279491. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279491
Mayer, V., Voglmayr, H., Blatrix, R., Orivel, J., & Leroy, C. (2023). Fungi as mutualistic partners in ant-plant interactions. Frontiers in Fungal Biology, 2023(4), Article 1213997. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffunb.2023.1213997
Halbwachs, H., Grimsson, F., Potapova, M., Dolezych, M., & LePage, B. (2023). Microfossils in resin from the middle Eocene Buchanan Lake Formation, Napartulik, Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Canada. Palynology, 47(1), 1-13. Article 2127956. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2022.2127956
Heřmanová, Z., Kvaček, J., Čepičková, J., von Balthazar-Schönenberger, A. M. L., Luthardt, L., & Schönenberger, J. (2023). Slavicekia gen. nov., a New Member of the Normapolles Complex from Late Cretaceous Sediments of the Czech Republic. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 184(3), 201-213. https://doi.org/10.1086/724155
Showing entries 31 - 57 out of 57