Improving the proxy value of Quaternary Ostracoda

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Peter Frenzel
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 544292899

Ostracoda, microscopic bivalved crustaceans with easily fossilisable hard parts, are one of the most useful fossil groups in continental systems, especially in the Quaternary. Their application, however, is hampered by our imperfect knowledge on ostracod ecology and distribution in space and time. The proposed research project has the goal of developing new methods of association-based palaeoecological ostracod analysis as well as testing and improving established autecological methods. This includes new transfer functions and the reconstruction of mainly Late Pleistocene and Holocene climate changes within the study region based on the Mutual Ostracod Temperature Range approach. Furthermore, ostracods will be established as index fossils in Quaternary biostratigraphy and as tools of palaeobiogeography. The base for reaching these goals will be compiled and assessed from widely scattered published and unpublished records and collection material of the Recent and Quaternary ostracod fauna in eastern Germany, i.e., the federal states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Berlin, Thuringia and Saxony. After completion of the present project, a follow-up is envisaged covering the federal states of western Germany as well. All these data are used to answer the research questions of the proposal centred around the palaeoenvironmental proxy value, biostratigraphical, and (palaeo)biogeographical use of Quaternary Ostracoda. The results will generate new insights into the Quaternary palaeoclimatic evolution of the eastern German region and will improve substantially the geoscientific application potential of Quaternary Ostracoda.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants