Dr., Senior Curator, Assistant Head of the Department
Phone: 08-519 551 60
E-mail: lena.gustavsson@nrm.se
See the Staff and Contacts page
M.Sc., Göteborg University, Sweden, 1991
Ph.D., Göteborg University, Sweden, 1999
Research in the field of annelid systematics and morphology. I am responsible for the curation and accessibility of the annelid collection. I coordinate the curation and accessibility of the invertebrate collections (not insects) at the Department of Zoology. I am Responsible for the transmissionelectronmicroscope (TEM) at NRM. I teach at Stockholm University.
The main focus of my research is to study morphological character evolution in a phylogenetic context. Molecular techniques offer great opportunities to solve questions about Metazoan evolutionary relationships, but studying morphology is still important for our understanding of evolution and adaptation. Another reason to continue to collect morphological data is to enable us to integrate fossil taxa and solve their relationships to extant taxa. To be able to do this we need more knowledge about morphology in general.
My research, in particular, concerns the systematics and morphology of annelids. Annelida is a group commonly referred to as segmented worms that are found worldwide in most habitats. Earthworms and leeches are the most familiar annelids, but the bulk of the diversity of Annelida lies with the polychaetes. They are found in nearly every marine habitat, with a few groups also occurring in fresh water and moist terrestrial surroundings.
Project I. Patterns of morphological character evolution: an annelid perspective