We study the enormous diversity of nematodes in the face of climate change and want to learn how some species adapted to survive in extreme environments and can survive without sex for millions of years.
Cryptobiosis or suspendend animation
We are particularly interested to learn more about nematodes in extreme habitats where there is only occasional availability of water. There are roundworm species, which can completely dry (desiccate) and come back to life once water is available again. In simple terms we want to learn how many of these species there are, how they survive desiccated for many years, and in particular how they maintain stability of their DNA.
Parthenogenesis in Nematodes
Sex as a mode of reproduction, is quite costly as, for example, you have to allocate resources to producing males, to find a partner, and for the act itself. Still, almost all animals reproduce by having some sort of sex, that is they recombine their genetic material and then mix it with a mate. Thus, the cost to pay for sex must be out-weighted by its benefits. In fact, it is assumed that most species, that switch to an asexual (parthenogenetic) mode of reproduction, go extinct in short evolutionary time.
So why then are there so many nematode species, which are parthenogenetic? And how do they become parthenogenetic and maintain this mode of reproduction of prolonged evolutionary times? We try to answer these question in the context of nematode diversity and ecology, and also from a molecular evolutionary perspective.
The CRC1211
Together with Ann-Marie Waldvogel here in Cologne we are part of the CRC1211 a research cluster working in the Atacama and Namib deserts. Along with the nematode taxonomist Oleksandr Holovachov from the Natural History museum in Sweden we investigate the biodiversity of roundworms in one of the driest places on earth. We also analyse if asexual species are more successful than sexual ones in extreme environments. Looking at how stressful abiotic conditions influence the speed of evolution we will predict how climate change will affect organisms.
