High times in the Himalaya: Ground beetle phylogeography as a tool to unravel the Himalayan-Tibetan orogenesis

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Lars Opgenoorth; Dr. Joachim Schmidt
• Subject Area: Physical Geography
• Term: from 2013 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 240705358

The primary goal of this study is to establish the highly diverse species groups of modern ground beetles as a new proxy to derive successions of mountain uplift and paleoenvironments and to assess the paleoelevation of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen (HTO). The particular suitability of the high altitude ground beetles is based on the existence of a large number of species that showcase obligatory winglessness. These species are extremely weak dispersers because of this trait. Their evolution necessarily is closely linked to the environmental history of the mountain system. In this proposal, we focus on studying the successions on the southern margin of the HTO (Himalaya, South Tibet). The initial confinement of the investigation to this area is due to the complexity of the orogeny, the enormous diversity of the species groups we address, and due to the limited duration of the proposal. Nevertheless, the orogeny of the southern HTO is of unique significance for the geology, paleoclimatology, and biogeography of the area for the following reasons: i) most of the modern geological models differ with respect to the uplift history of this part of the mountain system; ii) the uplift of the High Himalaya markedly influences the climate in the interior of High Asia as well as on a global scale; iii) South Tibet was likely an important evolution center during the Cenozoic and impacted the modern faunas of Central and East Asia.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants