Vertebrates

The focus of our research lies on the evolution of vertebrates. Fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals have evolved over millions of years to survive challenging conditions. This lead to a tremendous number of different species (biodiversity), but also resulted in a wide morphological variety (disparity). Physically different habitats, such as the transition from a life in water to a life on land, imposed manifold pressures on the organisms. These dramatic differences of the respective environment require adaptations in the structure and function of the organismal body.