Dr. phil. habil. Friðgeir Grímsson
Senior Scientist
Ground floor, room 3
t: +43 (0)1 4277-540 10
m: fridgeir.grimsson@univie.ac.at
Research interests
- Palynology
- Paleopalynology
- Botany
- Paleobotany
- Paleophytogeography
My research interests comprise plant evolution, vegetation differentiation, and climate development in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic. I use evidence from the macrofossil record (mostly leaves) and from the record of dispersed pollen and spores to resolve the origin, diversification, and dispersal of plant lineages, to trace past distribution and biogeographic patterns of various plant groups and major plant functional groups, to reconstruct regional and large-scale vegetation changes, and, eventually, to evaluate past climate situations and possible climate changes during the past ca. 100 million years. Key areas of my research have been the Arctic and Subarctic regions and mid-latitude regions in Asia, North America and Europe. My current area of focus is Western and Central Europe, the Mediterranean region, and the African continent.
Projects
- Korreliert in-situ Pollen fossiler Blüten mit Insekten?/Flower Power: can in-situ pollen link fossil plants to floral visitors?
FWF-Project P 34303 - Out of Africa: did plants disperse via the Gomphotherium land bridge?
FWF-Projekt P29501-B25
Link to this project: http://www.fridgeirgrimsson.com/fwf-p29501-b25/ - Paleogene flora of western Greenland and the Faeroes
FWF-Projekt P24427-B25
Link to this project: http://www.fridgeirgrimsson.com/fwf-p24427-b25/ - Mid-Miocene floristic changes and differentiation patterns
- Pliocene and Pleistocene floras of Iceland
- Miocene floras of Iceland
Teaching
Cooperations
- Department of Paleontology, University of Vienna, Austria
- Department of Paleobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm
- Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Germany
- Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
- Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
- Departments of Botany and Geology & Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
- Naturalis Biodiversity Center, National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden
- Don Harrington Discovery Center, 1200 Streit Drive, Amarillo, TX, 79106, USA
Curriculum Vitae
Current position
- 2021– Senior Scientist, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Austria.
Education
2015 Venia Docendi (Priv.-Doz.)/Doctor Habilitatus (Dr. habil.) in Paleontology/Paleobotany. University of Vienna, Austria. Thesis: Unravelling Upper Cretaceous and Cainozoic vegetation patterns from Northern Hemispheric palynofloras.
2007 Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.) in Geology/Paleobotany. University of Iceland, Reykjavík. Thesis: The Miocene floras of Iceland: origin and evolution of fossil floras from north-west and western Iceland, 15 to 6 Ma.
2002 Master of Science (MS) in Geology/Paleobotany. University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Thesis: The Hreðavatn Member of the Hreðavatn-Stafholt Formation and its fossil flora.
1999 Bachelor of Science (BS) in Geology/Paleobotany. University of Iceland, Reykjavík. Thesis: Þrimilsdalur: an ancient flora in an aesthetic valley.
Scientific career
2018–2021 Research scientist, senior postdoctoral position, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Austria
2013–2014 Assistant Professor, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík
2010–2018 Research scientist, senior postdoctoral position, Department of Paleontology, University of Vienna, Austria
2007–2009 Research scientist, postdoctoral position, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík
2002–2009 Lecturer, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík
2002–2007 Teacher, Menntaskólinn við Sund (Secondary School, College), Reykjavík
Publications
2018
Grímsson, F., Grimm, G. W., Potts, A. J., Zetter, R., & Renner, S. S. (2018). A Winteraceae pollen tetrad from the early Paleocene of western Greenland, and the fossil record of Winteraceae in Laurasia and Gondwana. Journal of Biogeography, 45(3), 567-581. doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13154
Grímsson, F., Xafis, A., Neumann, F. H., Scott, L., Bamford, M. K., & Zetter, R. (2018). The first Loranthaceae fossils from Africa. Grana, 57(4), 249-259. doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2018.1430167
Grímsson, F., Grimm, G. W., & Zetter, R. (2018). Evolution of pollen morphology in Loranthaceae. Grana, 57(1-2), 16-116. doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2016.1261939
2017
Grimsson, F., Xafis, A., Neumann, F. H., & Zetter, R. (2017). Pollen morphology of extant Winteraceae: a study allowing SEM-based affiliation of its fossil representatives. Acta Palaeobotanica, 57(2), 339-396. doi.org/10.1515/acpa-2017-0015
Bouchal, J. M., Mayda, S., Zetter, R., Grimsson, F., Akgun, F., & Denk, T. (2017). Miocene palynofloras of the Tinaz lignite mine, Mugla, southwest Anatolia: Taxonomy, palaeoecology and local vegetation change. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 243, 1-36. doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2017.02.010
Grimsson, F., Grimm, G. W., & Zetter, R. (2017). Tiny pollen grains: first evidence of Saururaceae from the Late Cretaceous of western North America. PeerJ, 6, [e3434]. doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3434
Grimsson, F., Kapli, P., Hofmann, C-C., Zetter, R., & Grimm, G. W. (2017). Eocene Loranthaceae pollen pushes back divergence ages for major splits in the family. PeerJ, 5, [e3373]. doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3373
Denk, T., Velitzelos, D., Guner, T. H., Bouchal, J. M., Grimsson, F., & Grimm, G. W. (2017). Taxonomy and palaeoecology of two widespread western Eurasian Neogene sclerophyllous oak species: Quercus drymeja Unger and Q-mediterranea Unger. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 241, 98-128. doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2017.01.005
Grimsson, F., Zetter, R., Labandeira, C. C., Engel, M., & Wappler, T. (2017). Taxonomic description of in situ bee pollen from the middle Eocene of Germany. Grana: an international journal of palynology and aerobiology with world pollen and spore flora, 56(1), 37-70. doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2015.1108997
2016
Grímsson, F., Grimm, G. W., Zetter, R., & Denk, T. (2016). Cretaceous and paleogene fagaceae from North America and Greenland: Evidence for a late cretaceous split between fagus and the remaining fagaceae. Acta Palaeobotanica, 56(2), 247-305. doi.org/10.1515/acpa-2016-0016
Bouchal, J. M., Zetter, R., Grimsson, F., & Denk, T. (2016). The middle Miocene palynoflora and palaeoenvironments of Eskihisar (Yatağan basin, south-western Anatolia): a combined LM and SEM investigation. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 182(1), 14-79. doi.org/10.1111/boj.12446
Grimsson, F., Pedersen, G. K., Grimm, G., & Zetter, R. (2016). A revised stratigraphy for the Palaeocene Agatdalen flora (Nuussuaq Peninsula, western Greenland): correlating fossiliferous outcrops, macrofossils, and palynological samples from phosphoritic nodules. Acta Palaeobotanica, 56(2), 307-327. doi.org/10.1515/acpa-2016-0009
Wappler, T., & Grimsson, F. (2016). Before the 'Big Chill': Patterns of plant-insect associations from the Neogene of Iceland. Global and Planetary Change, 142, 73-86.
Grimsson, F., Grimm, G. W., Meller, B., Bouchal, J., & Zetter, R. (2016). Combined LM and SEM study of the middle Miocene (Sarmatian) palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin, Austria: part IV. Magnoliophyta 2 - Fagales to Rosales. Grana: an international journal of palynology and aerobiology with world pollen and spore flora, 55(2), 101-163. doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2015.1096566
2015
Meller, B., Zetter, R., Hassler, A., Bouchal, J., Hofmann, C., & Grimsson, F. (2015). Middle Miocene macrofloral elements from the Lavanttal Basin, Austria, Part I. Ginkgo adiantoides (Unger) Heer. Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences, 108(2), 185-198. doi.org/10.17738/ajes.2015.0020
Grimsson, F., Hofmann, C., & Zetter, R. (2015). Paläobotanische Untersuchungen auf der Insel Mykines (Färöer Inseln): Spät-Paläozäne Blattfunde und Pollen. Österreichische Paläontologische Gesellschaft, 9.
Manchester, S. R., Grimsson, F., & Zetter, R. (2015). Assessing the fossil record of asterids in the context of our current phylogenetic framework. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 100, 329-363.
Béthoux, O., Kondratieff, B., Grimsson, F., Ólafsson, E., & Wappler, T. (2015). Character state-based taxa erected to accommodate fossil and extant needle stoneflies (Leuctridae - Leuctrida tax.n.) and close relatives. Systematic Entomology, 40, 322-341. doi.org/10.1111/syen.12102
Grimsson, F., Meller, B., Bouchal, J. M., & Zetter, R. (2015). Combined LM and SEM study of the middle Miocene (Sarmatian) palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin, Austria: part III. Magnoliophyta 1 - Magnoliales to Fabales. Grana: an international journal of palynology and aerobiology with world pollen and spore flora, 54(2), 85-128. doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2015.1007081
Grimsson, F., Zetter, R., Grimm, G. W., Pedersen, G. K., Pedersen, A. K., & Denk, T. (2015). Fagaceae pollen from the early Cenozoic of West Greenland: revisiting Engler's and Chaney's Arcto-Tertiary hypotheses. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 301, 809-832. doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1118-5