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
- 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 - Science-News-Article:
"Plant turns suspected crop pest into pollinator" – 13. October 2022 - Science ORF.at (german):
"Blüten nutzen Parasiten als Bestäuber" – 6. October 2022 - Online-Article mediaportal University of Vienna (german):
"Aus Feind wird Freund: Schädlinge werden zu Pflanzenbestäubern" – 6. October 2022 - Publication in Current Biology:
"Evidence for the recruitment of florivorous plant bugs as pollinators" – 4. October 2022 - Young Researchers in Archaeometry 5 (Online Workshop):
Tutorial: Is pollen useful for achaeological research? The what, why, and how! - The Museumspodcast »Das Grüne Sofa« (german):
"Flower-Power: Vergangenen Ökosystemen auf der Spur – Die Erforschung von Pollen fossiler Blüten und Insekten" (Podcast mit Friðgeir Grímsson) - Online-Article mediaportal University of Vienna (german):
"Fossiler Fressrausch: 47 Millionen Jahre alte Fliege mit vollem Bauch gefunden" – 11. März 2021
Recent Publications 2021-2023
2024
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
Alçiçek, H., Gross, M., Bouchal, J. M., Wesselingh, F. P., Neubauer, T. A., Meijer, T., van den Hoek Ostende, L. W., Tesakov, A., Murray, A. M., Mayda, S., & Alçiçek, M. C. (2023). Paleobiodiversity and paleoenvironments of the eastern Paratethys Pleistocene lacustrine-palustrine sequence in the Baklan Basin (SW Anatolia, Turkey). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 626, Article 111649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111649
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
Woutersen, A., Jardine, P. E., Silvestro, D., Bogotá-Angel, R. G., Zhang, H.-X., Meijer, N., Bouchal, J., Barbolini, N., Dupont-Nivet, G., Koutsodendris, A., Antonelli, A., & Hoorn, C. (2023). The evolutionary history of the Central Asian steppe-desert taxon Nitraria (Nitrariaceae) as revealed by integration of fossil pollen morphology and molecular data. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 202(2), 195-214. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boac050
Denk, T., Bouchal, J. M., Güner, H. T., Coiro, M., Butzmann, R., Pigg, K. B., & Tiffney, B. H. (2023). Cenozoic migration of a desert plant lineage across the North Atlantic. New Phytologist, 238(6), 2668-2684. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18743
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
Denk, T., Grimm, G. W., Hipp, A. L., Bouchal, J. M., Schulze, E.-D., & Simeone, M. C. (2023). Niche evolution in a northern temperate tree lineage: biogeographic legacies in cork oaks (Quercus sect. Cerris). Annals of Botany, 131(5), 769-787. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcad032
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
2022
Adroit, B., Grimsson, F., Suc, J.-P., Escarguel, G., Zetter, R., Bouchal, J. M., Fauquette, S., Zhuang, X., & Djamali, M. (2022). Are morphological characteristics of Parrotia (Hamamelidaceae) pollen species diagnostic? Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 307, Article 104776. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2022.104776
Geier, C., Bouchal, J. M., Ulrich, S., Gross, M., Zetter, R., Denk, T., & Grimsson, F. (2022). Paleovegetation and paleoclimate inferences of the early late Sarmatian palynoflora from the Gleisdorf Fm. at Gratkorn, Styria, Austria. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 307, Article 104767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2022.104767
Etl, F., Kaiser, C., Reiser, O., Schubert, M., Dötterl, S., & Schönenberger, J. (2022). Evidence for the recruitment of florivorous plant bugs as pollinators. Current Biology, 32(21), 4688-4698.E6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.09.013
Artuso, S., Gamisch, A., Staedler, Y. M., Schönenberger, J., & Comes, H. P. (2022). Evidence for an evo-devo-derived hypothesis on three-dimensional flower shape modularity in a tropical orchid clade. Evolution, 76(11), 2587-2604. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14621
Delpeuch, P., Jabbour, F., Damerval, C., Schönenberger, J., Pamperl, S., Rome, M., & Nadot, S. (2022). A flat petal as ancestral state for Ranunculaceae. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13, Article 961906. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.961906
Nepel, M., Pfeifer, J., Oberhauser, F. B., Richter, A., Woebken, D., & Mayer, V. E. (2022). Nitrogen fixation by diverse diazotrophic communities can support population growth of arboreal ants. BMC Biology, 20(1), Article 135. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-022-01289-0
Dellinger, A. S., Paun, O., Baar, J., Temsch, E. M., Fernández-Fernández, D., & Schönenberger, J. (2022). Population structure in Neotropical plants: Integrating pollination biology, topography and climatic niches. Molecular Ecology, 31(8), 2264-2280. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16403