Research Projects
Our research projects span across geoscience, paleobiology, zoology, botany, mycology, and bioinformatics - starting from our large collections. We aim to reveal the diversity of life, understand the dynamics of ecosystems, and explore the changing nature of the Earth.
This effort is not only crucial for scientific progress but also for providing data for political decisions and engaging the public. Dive into our research and be inspired by the incredible stories our planet has to tell.
250 million years of evolution: the history and diversity of modern brittle stars
Classification, naming, evolutionary relationships, morphology and distribution of brittle stars (Ophiuroidea) are studied globally. New species are discovered continuously. Various sub-projects study North Atlantic bottom fauna, deepsea fauna, tropical species in the Pacific, as well as species in chemosynthetic environments such as hydrothermal vents. Even fossils are included.
A Biodiversity Hotspot Inventory: Water Beetles of Madagascar
Madagascar's flora and fauna are extraordinarily rich and unique—a hotspot for biodiversity. A large, heterogeneous mini-continent surrounded by the Indian Ocean for 90 million years has provided a magical stage for evolution and speciation. Nowhere else in the world can a two-week eco-tourism trip easily showcase over twenty different primate species. But for how much longer? Forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Yet there is still so much to discover—especially within the world of insects!
An integrated study of continental-scale colonization of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow
The global warming affects the environmental conditions for all species on Earth. While some can cope with this, others run the risk of local or global extinction. To better understand how wild species adapt to environmental change is a vital challenge for evolutionary genetics, ecology, and conservation biology.
Biodiversity of Hymenoptera
During more than a decade hymenopterists at the department of Zoology have collected and studied wasps and the main focus is the Swedish fauna. Increased knowledge about the biodiversity is more important than ever and Hymenoptera is one of the poorly known groups in which there are many species left to describe even in Sweden. We study systematics, species composition and phylogenetic relationships. In various projects we have found at least 80 new species of sawflies and parasitic wasps for the first time in Sweden and more than 20 new species of parasitic wasps to science.
Biodiversity, evolution and genomics of Strepsiptera
At the beginning of the project, we did not know if there were 5 or 20 different species of twisted-winged parasites in Sweden. The challenge lies in determining how host-specific these parasites are, especially among those that parasitize wild bees. Is there one species that parasitizes many different species of mining bees, or are there several species, each parasitizing only one or a few species of mining bees? Through sequencing the entire genetic material of twisted-winged parasites, we have discovered that there are actually several different species.
Carnivores and the Ecological Footprint of Early Humans
In the course of its evolution, the human lineage (Homininae) has undergone an ecological journey that has had consequences for whole ecosystems. From being specialized frugivores, hominins gradually have experienced a niche shift, introgressing into the carnivore guild and eventually becoming an apex predator. This niche shift had consequences for the contemporaneous fauna, and the project here proposed seeks to investigate these.
Constraining the magmatic evolution of the Moon with Pb isotope measurements of lunar basalts
The formation and the evolution of the Moon is not yet fully understood by the scientific community. Therefore, analysis of lunar samples is crucial to understand how the Moon evolved through time. Photo: False color element map of a lunar basalt collected during the Apollo 12 mission. Credit: Renaud Merle
Cracking the code: HR-SIMS techniques and data corrections for Sr isotopes in apatite
Early Earth – the first billion years after Earth was created. With significant improvements in analytical techniques, such as SIMS (secondary ion mass spectrometry), small inclusions (typically <50 µm) trapped inside zircon (the oldest mineral ever reported; 4.4 Ga) have become an attractive subject for studying ancient Earth. Apatite inclusion for Sr isotopes ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) is an intriguing target to study crustal evolution in Early Earth.
Crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian Shield
The Arabian-Nubian Shield, which stretches from north-eastern Africa across the Arabian peninsula, represents one of the most significant volumes of Neoproterozoic crustal growth on Earth and, as such, is a key region for understanding tectonic and magmatic processes in the late Precambrian as well as the likely distribution of continents prior to the assembly of Gondwana during the so-called Pan African orogeny.
Determining the ages of Earth's impact structures
There are approximately 200 known impact structures on Earth, but only a quarter of these have been accurately and precisely dated. In this project, we are developing and refining protocols in the absolute dating of impact craters on Earth, and then applying these methods to dating impact structures whose ages have broad scientific interest – such as those that have been proposed as having contributed to mass extinctions.
Diversity and evolution of nematodes
Nematodes, or roundworms, are one of those groups of animals that we humans do not notice in our daily lives, but that affect us in many different and considerable ways. Nematodes are also one of the largest, most broadely distributed and speciose groups of multicellular animals. They occur in nearly all types of habitats and exhibit an incredible diversity of lifestyles.
Diversity and evolutionary history of plants in Madagascar
The biota of Madagascar is a mix of ancient lineages of Gondwanan origins that have persisted there and lineages whose ancestors arrived more recently on the island by trans-oceanic dispersal. Undocumented species diversity in ancient and young plant lineages and northward diversification in young lineages have recently been reported in Madagascar.
Early history of flowering plants and vegetation changes during the Cretaceous
The phylogenetic diversification and ecological radiation of flowering plants (angiosperms) during the Cretaceous initiated fundamental biotic changes in the terrestrial environment transforming the ancient gymnosperm and fern dominated communities of the Jurassic to the angiosperm dominated communities that characterize most present-day terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding the initial expansion of angiosperms has been a major focus in biology since Darwin in a letter to Joseph Hooker in 1879 coined the apparent explosive angiosperm radiation an “abominable mystery”.
Early planetary evolution – a microanalytical perspective
The terrestrial planets in our Solar System share a common origin via accretion from the protoplanetary solar disk at ca. 4.6 billion years ago but on Earth, plate tectonics has erased the rock record older than 4 byr. Samples from the Moon, and meteorites (including those from Mars) can illuminate this earliest period and constrain Earth’s path to its present habitability.
Engineering the Cambrian explosion: The role of reefs in early animal evolution
Often called the rainforests of the oceans, coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. Reefs, in various shapes and forms, have been present in Earth’s ocean for over 500 million years, appearing together with the first animal communities. But what was their role in the emergence and diversification of the first animals on our planet?
Evolution of Deep-Sea Ecosystems
The deep ocean harbors a wide range of unique and extreme habitats. The main focus of this project is on so-called chemosynthetic ecosystems such as methane-seeps, that are fueled by geochemical energy. Due to their independence from photosynthetic primary production, they are considered to have had their own, unique evolutionary history. Many hypotheses on the origin and evolution of chemosynthetic ecosystems employ events of the geologic past, but rarely consider fossil evidence.
Fennoscandian evolution and the position of Baltica in earlier supercontinents
An overarching theme for my research has been the formation and evolution of the Fennoscandian shield during the Proterozoic. For this purpose, U-Pb dating of different rocks is combined with geochemical and isotope studies in order to understand their origin and tectonic setting. A related question is how the geological evolution of Fennoscandia and Baltica (the northeastern, Precambrian part of Europe) fits into the larger plate tectonic pattern of earlier supercontinents (Columbia/Nuna, Rodinia).
FinBio
The Mistra Finance to Revive Biodiversity (FinBio) is a transdisciplinary research program that aims to support the financial sector in the much-needed transition to a more “nature-positive” economy. Nature-positive is a term that means activities that stop biodiversity loss as well as recover lost biodiversity. The program will involve testing new biodiversity metrics and tools together with the programs impact partners.
From intraspecific diversity to hidden species diversity among mosses
Genetic diversity is an exciting research field today, because genetic variation is fundamental to understand and conserve species diversity. Genetic diversity in addition provides insights regarding the immigration history of species, on the evolution of species, and about how species exchange genetic material, for example through hybridisation.
Hybridization in Birds-of-Paradise, genomic implications and evolutionary advantages
Lek-mating behavior is a particular intense form of sexual selection where persistent female choice should lead to genetic depletion in male traits that phenotypic evolution can act upon. However, hybridization in radiations with lek-mating behaviors may be more common than expected and introgression of new genetic variation may thus be an overlooked source in upholding genetic diversity in such organisms. In this project we investigate how frequent hybridization may boost genetic diversity in lekking Birds-of-Paradise, and if repeated hybridization may constrain genomic structural that may form post-zygotic barriers to gene flow.
Hydrogen in nominally anhydrous minerals
In this project, we are studying hydrogen stability and redox-exchange mechanisms with the aim to increase the understanding of the effects of hydrogen incorporation in nominally anhydrous minerals. An important question is whether observed concentrations are representative for the original conditions, or if the kinetics of hydrogen exchange reactions is fast enough to allow re-equilibration during ascent processes.
Impacts and life
Do meteorite impacts only bring about catastrophic events, causing mass death and upheaval in climate patterns? Or could they also offer vital traits that support and enhance life as we know it?
Mars: lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere
Mars is the only inner solar system planet with an observed hydrological cycle and by inference, the potential for life. As such, the surface and atmospheric process acting on Mars have been the focus of billions of dollars in rovers, landers, and orbiters. However, martian meteorites are key objects to understand the formation and the evolution of Mars.
Mineral systematics and new minerals
Approximately 6,000 different mineral species are known globally today and new ones are constantly being added through systematic research efforts. We investigate the properties of minerals, their conditions of formation and role in geological processes. The research is strongly linked to our vast mineral collection and the mission to investigate it scientifically.
One way that SIMS contributes to world peace: U particle analysis in nuclear forensics
Nuclear forensics is based on the investigation of materials collected from various sources such as the vicinity of a nuclear facility or the radioactive debris following a nuclear explosion, in the context of international nuclear security. Uranium particles separated from the collected dust samples are an important target for in-situ analysis to identify uranium materials.
Patterns of floral turnover and plant-insect interactions through the Guadalupian-Lopingian biotic crisis
Patterns of floral turnover and plant-insect interactions through the Guadalupian-Lopingian (middle-upper Permian) biotic crisis
Phylogeny and Evolution of the Neogastropoda
The Tree of life is one of the most ambitious and compelling projects in the life sciences: it strives to disentangle patterns of relatedness among living things – i.e. to resolve their phylogeny. While studies on some animal lineages, especially those attracting broad public attention, like birds and mammals, are well on their way, other groups are often neglected, despite their abundance, ecological and economic significance. In this project we address the phylogeny of a charismatic and species rich lineage of marine snails, the order Neogastropoda.
PlantEra - Ancient plant survival strategies
Paleontologists from the Swedish Museum of Natural History and Molecular Plant Biologists from Lund University collaborate within this project uniting two different research fields. With funding from Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, we carry out detailed analyses of fossilized plants (leaves and stems) and compare these to modern living relatives concerning microstructure, biomolecules and trace elements. The aim is to provide unique insights into several extinct plant groups, their evolutionary relationships, physiology, and their adapted response to drastic environmental changes.
RiSe-Gen: Developing genomic tools for ringed seal population monitoring in the Baltic Sea
Understanding how marine species respond to climate warming and human activities is essential for the management of marine ecosystems. However, this requires cost-effective tools for population monitoring. Here, using genomic data, species distribution modelling and forward simulations we will develop a robust multi-disciplinary monitoring and management framework for the ringed seal, a top predator in the Baltic Sea.
Rutile thermochronology
U-Pb dating and analysis of Pb diffusion profiles in rutile is used to constrain the cooling history of orogenic belts, such as the Western Gneiss Complex in Norway.
Speeding up conservation in poorly known organism groups – Approaches in bryophyte species conservation
In a world where the deterioration of ecossytems, species, genetic variation, and related services is accelerating in an alarming speed, we need to scale up our efforts to halt this unprecedented loss. Species conservation remains an important cornerstone to address the global devastating biodiversity decline.
Systematics and integrative taxonomy of Monogenea parasitising Swedish fish species
Every marine organism is potentially a host to a parasite, according to season and nearby environment. Within flatworms, the classes Monopisthocotylea and Polyopisthocotylea have veterinary and economic importance as they are typically hosted by fishes and feed on their blood or epithelium. Despite their immense species richness, only a fraction of their diversity has been documented, underlining the pressing need to explore their global biodiversity.
The Early Evolution of Shelled Invertebrates
The Lophotrochozoa is one of the largest and most diverse branches in the tree of life, including, but not limited to group such as bivalves (Phylum Mollusca), earth worms (Phylum Annelida), moss animals (Phylum Bryozoa) and lamp shells (Phylum Brachiopoda). By utilizing this excellent fossil record, we can begin to untangle the earliest evolution of this key animal group.
The Early History of the Biosphere
Life and Earth evolve in constant interaction. We investigate the evolution of the biosphere in cooperation with geochemists and sedimentologists who contribute by elucidating the life environments.
The Evolution of Distribution Patterns in Flowering Plants
This project will use the fossil record of plant lineages that occurred in temperate regions during large parts of the Cenozoic in order to investigate the relative roles of niche conservatism and niche evolution to the change of distributional patterns in these lineages through time. Fossil plant assemblages from the western and eastern Mediterranean regions will be investigated spanning the period from the Oligocene to the Pliocene (34 to 2.6 million years ago).
The deep history of life
How old is the world's oldest fungi and where has it been found? Answer: the world's oldest fungi is almost two and a half billion years old and was found by our research team in an ancient seabed from what is today South Africa. It does not look like how we are used to see fungi, but consists of microscopic threads - hyphae - that have grown in small cavities deep in the rock under the sea. We study the fungus and other microorganisms that lived in the seabed a long time ago in this project.
The formation of avian island diversity across barriers and along elevational gradients
The bewildering diversity and distribution of life around us have puzzled scientists for centuries. In this project we use birds of the Indo-Pacific islands to determine how populations of birds disperse, differentiate, speciate and adapt to form the communities we observe on Earth. Understanding the processes driving biodiversity is of crucial importance for assessing the ongoing effects of global change on the diversity of life on Earth.
The frozen garden of Eden: fossil vertebrates in Antarctica
Through research expeditions to Antarctica, we have collected thousands of fossils of vertebrates as well as fossils of plants and invertebrate animals. The project has yielded many scientific results (30 publications from 2011-2024), and the Swedish Museum of Natural History now has one of the world's largest collections of fossil vertebrates from Antarctica.
Tools for investigating spatio-temporal variability of contaminants in Baltic Sea biota
Changes in the concentration of some contaminant, such as mercury, in marine biota are not proportional to changes in contaminant loads introduced through runoff and deposition. Our project aims to develop new methods to investigate the drivers of contaminant variability in Baltic Sea biota across time and space using data from the Swedish National Monitoring Program for Contaminants in Marine Biota.
Tracking past growth and collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet
This project investigates the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet during a warm climatic interval in the mid-Miocene, c. 17 to 15 million years ago. This period offers a useful analogue to Earth’s likely future trajectory under current global warming scenarios. Mid-Miocene warm climate was followed by an abrupt transition to a cooler global climate, which is also investigated.
Understanding a Jurassic global warming event
Approximately 183 million years ago, the Earth’s climate experienced a rapid global warming event that led to major changes to the planet’s biota and ocean chemistry. This project attempts to better understand this event using the extensive fossil records of micro- and nanno-fossils.
Using ancient DNA to predict future dynamics of herring in a warming sea
This project will assess the demographic and adaptive responses of Atlantic and Baltic herring to sea warming, using a temporal genomics approach relying on comparisons of historical and modern genomes and forward simulations.
Venom evolution in Neogastropoda
Why are some taxa species rich and evolutionsry successful, and others not? Venomous animals offer a new context to this standing question: they give an opportunity to look deep into the mechanisms of key evolutionary trait origins. In this project, we investigate how unrelated lineages of marine snails independenty aquire the same key trait: possession of venom, and how it contributed to their prosperity.
eDNA genomics
We use environmental DNA to answer a wide variety of research question related to biodiversity changes over time, genetic health of (endagered)species and wildlife forensics.