Dr. Jörn von Döhren
Reproduction Biology and Phylogeny of Nemertea
Research aims are the phylogeny and evolution of Nemertea (ribbon worms); a taxon of unsegmented lophotrochozoan worms comprising approximately 1.300, mostly marine species. The focus is on the basally branching palaeonemertean groups.
Of particular interest are:
(1) comparative morphology and development of larval organs such as eyes, musculature, and nervous system,
(2) reproductive biology including comparative ultrastructure of nemertean spermatozoa,
(3) comparative morphology of the adult nervous system (P. Beckers),
and
(4) systematics and taxonomy of European species including population dynamics (C. Schmidt).
Collaborations include the nemertean taxonomy database (with T. Bartolomaeus), comparative larval development (with Svetlana Maslakova, Oregon University, USA), and an international consortium to unravel the nemertean phylogeny combining molecular and morphological data (with Gonzalo Giribet and Sonia Andrade, Harvard University, USA; Jon Norenburg Smithsonian Institution, USA; Per Sundberg, Gothenburg University, Sweden; Clint Turbeville, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA, Hiroshi Kajihara, Hokkaido University, Japan; and Shichun Sun, Quindao University, PR China).
