Curriculum vitae
2005
|
starting the diploma thesis on the Jamaican
bromeliad crab Metopaulias depressus under the
supervision of Dr.
C. Schubart |
| 2004 |
study abroad, semester at the University
of Queensland, Brisbane |
| 2000 |
entering the University of Regensburg
to explore the depths of biology |
| 2000 |
graduation at the Gabelsberger Gymnasium
Mainburg |
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The Jamaican bromeliad crab, Metopaulias
depressus (Decapoda, Brachyura, Sesarmidae), lives exclusively
in the rainwater-storing leaf axils of bromeliad plants.
The crabs forms a colony on the plant, consisting of one breeding
mother crab and her offspring in different age groups. |
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To ensure reproduction in this hostile and scattered
microhabitat, the species evolved a high degree of parental
care.
The parental care includes a) cleaning the leaf axil from
litter, b) circulating the water to enrich it with O2, c)
hunting snails and arthropods to feed the young, d) carrying
snail shells into the leaf axils in order to buffer the pH
of the water and to enrich it with calcium, which is needed
for moulting as well as e) defending the colony from predators
and possible intruders, which would be other crabs. Consequently,
it is very time and energy consuming to raise offspring. |
| My research consists of establishing genetic
relationships within and between colonies with different genetic
markers (mtDNA sequences and microsatellites). On one hand,
it shall be determined whether the different-sized juveniles
are all the offspring of the reproductive female inhabiting
the plant and thus whether this crab species can be considered
to have evolved a social helper system with delayed juvenile
dispersal. On the other hand, it shall be tested with population
genetic methods how far the crabs are able to migrate and
therefore how strong the gene flow between the different parts
of the island is. |
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