The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change

is a research museum of the Leibniz Association

The neck as key innovation to understand evolvability

Date: 
Mon, 05/07/2018 - 5:00pm
Meeting point: 
Institute for Zoology, Poppelsdorfer Schloss
Location: 
Lecture hall
Event type: 
Lecture
Event series: 
Colloquium on evolution and biodiversity
Target group: 
Studierende
Lecturer: 
Dr. Christine Böhmer, Muséum Natinal d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris

A key event in vertebrate evolution was the development of a mobile and functionally distinct neck. However, assessing the macroevolutionary dynamics of the cervical vertebral column across different clades is complex due to the different numbers of bones in the neck (7 cervical vertebrae in most mammals, 10-26 cervical vertebrae in birds, und up to 76 cervical vertebrae in extinct marine reptiles).

Here, I will present the concept of modularity that separates the organism into homologous, semi-autonomous units to provide new insights into the evolution of the neck as key innovation facilitating the adaptive radiation of the extremely diverse four-limbed vertebrates known as tetrapods, such as amphibians, non-avian reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Contact person

Head of Section
+49 228 9122-241
+49 228 9122-295
h.waegele [at] leibniz-zfmk.de

Biologisches Kolloquium

Prof. Dr. H. Wägele
Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig,
Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn
 
Prof. Dr. G. von der Emde
Institut für Zoologie, Poppelsdorfer Schloss,
Meckenheimer Allee 169, 53115 Bonn
 
Ort: Großer Hörsaal, Poppelsdorfer Schloß
Zeit: montags, 17.15 Uhr
 

Colloquium on biology

Prof. Dr. H. Wägele
Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig,
Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany
 
Prof. Dr. G. von der Emde
Institute of Zoology, Poppelsdorfer Schloss,
Meckenheimer Allee 169, 53115 Bonn, Germany

Place: Great lecture hall, Poppelsdorfer Schloß
Time: mondays, 17.15 h