Graduate Research Program - scholarships

[DirZool]

Museum of Natural History, Berlin, Germany:

The Graduate Research Program
,Evolutionary Transformations and Mass Extinctions"
offers from 1st October 1998
11 scholarships for graduate students (4 West/7 East) and
2 scholarships for Postdocs
from 1st October 1999 three more scholarships for graduate students will be
established

)))Participating Institutions:
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Museum fur Naturkunde, Institut fur
Systematische Zoologie
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Museum fur Naturkunde, Institut fur
Palaontologie
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Museum fur Naturkunde, Institut fur
Mineralogie
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Institut fur Biologie
Freie Universitat Berlin, Institut fur Palaontologie
Freie Universitat Berlin, Institut fur Zoologie
Deutsches Entomologisches Institut (DEI) e.V.
Institut fur Zoo- und Wildtierforschung (IZW) (WBL)

The history of life on earth is characterized by periods of unusually rapid
change, where extinction and subsequent evolution of various new forms took
place within a relatively short period of geological time. During such
radical evolutionary changes (mass extinctions or events), dominant groups
of organisms suddenly disappeared and were replaced by new groups. The
latter emerged from the older forms through reconstruction of their
organisation, i.e. through evolutionary transformation. The recent
biosphere of the earth has been profoundly influenced by these processes.
The multidisciplinary studies of these processes planned in the course of
the Graduate Research Program will focus on the following events:
transition from Eocene to Oligocene, the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary and
events in the Upper Devonian. Research will be done on the original
conditions of the events and evolutionary transformations as well as their
further development. Furthermore, general patterns that occured in the
course of these events will be determined.

)))Main fields of research (Graduate Advisors):

))Field A:
Fundamental geological and planetological processes of mass extinctions and
evolutionary events
A 1: Correlation of the impact formation of the Chicxulub-Crater with the
Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary layer: significance for the mass extinction
event (Stoffler, Claeys, Lazarus, Mohr)
A 2: The effect of major changes in the earth's history on the phylogeny of
ammonoids (Keupp, Riedel, Becker)
A 3: Evolutionary changes at the Eocene/Oligocene Boundary and their
possible causes: gradual geological processes and impact events (Schultze,
Stoffler, Lazarus, Mohr, Claeys)
A 4: Mass extinction events in the Upper Devonian (Schultze, Becker,
Claeys)

))Field B:
Major faunal changes and evolutionary transformations: their significance
for the evolution of Recent taxa
B 1: C/T-Event and evolutionary differentiation of viviparous mammals:
reproductive biology and groundplan of the Theria (Zeller , Mess, Ade)
B 2: Evolution of locomotion of early Theria as a precondition for the
radiation of recent mammals after the C/T-boundary (Krebs, Martin, Frey)
B 3: Evolutionary fundamentals of nutrition adaptations of recent
Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla (Hofmann, Lechner-Doll, Dehnhard)
B 4: Phylogenetic systematics and radiation of Brachyura with special
consideration of mass extinctions at the C/T-boundary (Scholtz, Richter,
Hinz-Schallreuter)
B 5: Drastic changes in anatomical and ontogenetical characters of Upper
Devonian piscine sarcopterygians (lungfish and crossopterygians) (Schultze,
Bartsch)

))Field C:
Fundamentals of evolutionary radiation: species formation and coevolution
C 1: Evolutionary dynamics on active volcanos - a model for investigation
of species formation processes (Hoch)
C 2: Evolutionary processes of sawflies as a key for the understanding of
the taxogenesis of Hymenoptera: extinction, radiation, trends (Dathe,
Taeger, Westenforff)
C 3: The radiation of coprophagous scarabs as a coevolutionary process for
the evolutionary differentiation of Ungulata (hoofed mammals) (Hoch,
Hirschberger)
C 4: Coevolution of mammal-parasitising Strongylida (Nematoda) and their
ungulate hosts (Sudhaus, Neuhaus)

A study- and advisory program especially developed for the Graduate
Research Program is available to the students. The aim of the Graduate
Research Program is an interdisciplinary and methodically broad education.
The comprehensive approach of the program, where mineralogical,
planetological, palaeontological and zoological projects will be
coordinated to work on common questions, is especially suited to offer
young scientists a universal perspective and to effectively counterbalance
the overspecialisation in natural sciences.


)))Admission requirements:

))Graduate students:
Usually an above-average diploma or state examination, acquired within an
appropriate time, is required. One of the participating scientists must
give his consent to supervise the doctoral dissertation. The applicants of
the Graduate Research Program will decide together over the admission of
students and the grant of scholarships.

))Postdocs:
Completed doctorate with over-average results in one of the respective
fields (geology or zoology). Of the two postdocs, each should be working in
field A or field B respectively. The postdocs should contribute
considerably to the unity and exchange between the different fields.
Moreover, each postdoc is supposed to work personally on a special project
within one of the fields.
The mineralogical and stratographical orientated dissertations, especially
of project A 1, shall be supervised by a palaeontologically skilled postdoc
who is able to combine the multiple palaeontological data of the
C/T-boundary to develop a synthesis. Also, the postdoc shall work on
palaeontological groups at the Eocene/Oligocene-boundary (A 3) that can not
be covered by the graduate student.
Based on an extensive and organismal concept, the postdoc in field B shall
work on the reproduction of the Theria in combination with questions of
their locomotion as well as problems of morphology and physiology of
feeding and metabolism. Furthermore, zoological relations to other projects
of the research program, for example to palaeobotany, entomology and
parasitology, will also be considered.

)))Information:
Graduate Research Program ,Evolutionary Transformations and Mass
Extinctions", Naturhistorisches Forschungsinstitut Museum fur Naturkunde,
Zentralinstitut der Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Institut fur
Systematische Zoologie, Invalidenstrabe 43, 10115 Berlin. Coordinator of
the Graduate Research Program: Prof. Dr. U. Zeller (Director of the
Institut fur Systematische Zoologie); Secretary: Ms. Vera Galle, Tel.:
0049-30-2093 8794.
e-mail: ulrich=zeller at museum.hu-berlin.de
http://www.museum.hu-berlin.de


)))Closing date for applications:
June 19th, 1998
Please indicate project number