Lucas Geisler 

Beacons of Discovery: Harnessing Collective Effort for a High-Throughput Approach to Dark Taxa Biology
 

I am a PhD researcher in biology working at the intersection of biodiversity science, taxonomy, and emerging approaches to documenting understudied life forms. My research focuses on “dark taxa”, organisms that are hyperdiverse and remain poorly described, and how methodological, technological, and structural advancements can aid modern species discovery and documentation. I use Phoridae (scuttle flies) as my primary study system and trial group, applying them as a model to explore how integrative and scalable approaches can improve species discovery and taxonomic workflows.

By combining molecular tools, data-driven approaches, and collaborative research frameworks, I investigate new strategies to accelerate taxonomic knowledge while addressing the global shortage of taxonomic expertise. At the museum, I contribute to advancing biodiversity research through interdisciplinary collaboration, open data practices, and the development of innovative workflows that connect collections, field research, and digital infrastructure. My broader goal is to help build a more scalable and sustainable future for taxonomy, enabling museums and research institutions to better document and understand Earth’s hidden biodiversity.

Hyeonsik Yoon

Micro-evolutionary processes in hummock systems of peatmosses (Sphagnum)
 

I am a PhD student addressing questions related to plant diversity and evolution using field and herbarium collections, morphological and genomic data, and bioinformatics. My research focuses on seed-free plants like bryophytes and pteridophytes. I am especially interested in species delimitation through morphological taxonomy and phylogenomics, as well as tracing the demographic histories of populations using population genetics.

During my master’s degree, I focused on the hybrid origin and reticulate evolution of the Polypodium vulgare complex distributed in East Asia. Focusing on the genus Sphagnum, my doctoral research seeks to understand the evolutionary phenomena driven by clonality. By quantifying somatic mutation rates and generation times in clonal lineages, I aim to unravel how asexual reproduction shapes genetic structure over time. A key component of my project involves tracing the evolutionary history and consequences of isolated asexual populations in extreme environments, such as Svalbard, to understand how they persist and adapt.

Hans Meinhard í Eyðansstovu

Tracing the origins of alien plants in the Arctic using genomics
 

How is it that introduced species can find themselves in a completely new environemnt, establish in it, rapidly adapt, start spreading and in some cases outcompete the native species? This scenario seems counterintuitive because introduced species undergo an extreme genetic bottleneck, reducing their genetic diversity which is the basis for biological adaptation. Yet introduced species show the capacity for rapid adaptation. This is known as the genetic paradox of invasive species and it is a central theme of my PhD thesis.

The project uses the plant Barbarea vulgaris as a study species and I will collect samples from across its entire native and introduced range. This will allow for identification of source populations and a reconstruction of how the establishment occured. For example there might have been only one introduction or multiple introductions from different source regions. By comparing the genomes of populations in the introduced range against those of the native range I will be able to tell what genetic adaptations these introduced populations have developed to the Arctic environmnet. Ultimately this would increase our understanding of how biological invasions play out and could be helpful in informing management strategies.

However, the very frist step of my project will be within taxonomy, as Barbarea vulgaris actually represents a species complex. This poses challenges for the study plans I have mentioned above but with a broadly sampled genomic dataset I will be able to untangle the taxonomic units within the complex.

  
Katharina Rambau

Monitoring Bryophytes with eDNA
 

To understand current and future environmental changes and respond to them in a timely and responsible manner, it is essential to know how our environment is structured and organized. This implies the need for cataloguing and monitoring our natural world, an ongoing effort by biologists across a variety of organisms. However, some lineages have received more attention than others. Bryophytes, being quite small and hard to identify, have been understudied, despite their importance for the regulation of the hydrology of ecosystems, the carbon storage in peats and as food source or habitat for other organisms.

With my project I want to help bryophytes get the attention they deserve and develop an efficient eDNA based monitoring protocol for them. In addition to expanding current databases and finding new primers for metabarcoding, this also involves collecting air, soil, and water samples in the field, which makes this PhD project varied and exciting.