Tobias Santl
CV:
| 1997 - 2002 |
Study of biology at the University of
Regensburg |
2002 - 2003
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Diploma thesis: The radiation of endemic
freshwater crabs in ancient lakes of Sulawesi: phylogenetic
relationship and ecological differentiation |
| 2004 |
begin of PhD studies at the University
of Regensburg |
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The Caribbean Islands are considered to be one
of the biodiversity hotspots of our planet. Many of the islands
host species which can only be found in the West Indies, some
of them endemic to one specific island. Especially Jamaica
is inhabited by a wide range of unique animals. After the
island reemerged from a Mid-Tertiary inundation by the Caribbean
Sea, some of the species which colonised the island have undergone
adaptive radiation. Some of the best documented adaptive radiations,
like the Jamaican Anolis lizards or the frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus, happened on the island. Another
very interesting radiation is the one of the Jamaican freshwater
crabs. |
This animals from the family Sesarmidae colonized not only the
different freshwater systems of the island, but also terrestrial
habitats, like limestone caves, empty snail shells, rock rubble
and even bromeliad leaf axils. So, currently at least ten different
species belonging to this family can be found on the island of
Jamaica. In comparison with this species richness, the freshwater
crab fauna of the other islands of the Greater Antilles seems
rather poor. On the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico
only seven species of the genus Epilobocera can be found.
These species also do not show an ecological diversity like the
Sesarmidae of Jamaica.
Based on this situation, I am interested in the
factors which led to the adaptive radiation of the Jamaican freshwater
crabs on one side and to the low species diversity in the genus Epilobocera on the other side. I am also investigating,
if this low species diversity is real or if there are cryptic
species on the other islands of the Greater Antilles. To achieve
these goals, I am using genetic and morphometric methods. Three
mitochondrial and two nuclear markers of different variability
are applied to investigate the phylogenetic relationships and
the population structure of Sesarma dolphinum and Epilobocera
sinuatifrons. Additional morphometric analyses are conducted
to find out, if the observed genotypic differences have already
phenotypic effects.
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