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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Geobiologist Dr. Ilya Bobrovskiy, previously employed at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, is moving to the University of Bremen to establish a research group at MARUM as part of his ERC Starting Grant. His project, “Deconvolving the early record of eukaryotic evolution,” aims to decipher the composition and ecology of ancient ecosystems. This goes back a long way in time, to the end of Paleoproterozoic era, some 1.64 billion years ago, and mainly focuses on the Neoproterozoic era (between 1 and 0.54 billion years ago).
During this period, life on Earth underwent fundamental changes: over many millions of years, the oceans mainly populated by bacteria suddenly became full of more complex single-celled eukaryotes, followed by the appearance and diversification of animals.
The record of environmental changes during this period, which have very likely driven the ecological and evolutionary changes, is stored in sedimentary rocks. "We know that these disturbances took place, but we don't know how big they were, how long they lasted, or what mechanisms triggered them. One of the biggest limitations in interpreting the data is that each sample represents dozens or even hundreds of years of sedimentation and contains a mixture of unevenly preserved remains of organisms that lived during that time," Bobrovskiy's project description states.
In the coming years, he plans to develop methods that combine organic geochemistry, isotope geochemistry, and paleontology to analyze ancient rocks. The project aims to improve understanding of the carbon cycle in ancient habitats to track down the coevolution of life and environments. In addition, the project will aim to identify what exactly were the first complex organisms to populate the oceans that paved the way for the emergence of animals.
“MARUM combines excellent research infrastructure with strong support for early-career researchers. Its close-knit community of research groups in geobiology, marine geochemistry, and Earth system science offers a collaborative environment that aligns closely with my project and provides an ideal setting for developing interdisciplinary perspectives on the coevolution of life and environments, both in deep time and recent Earth history,” says Ilya Bobrovskiy.
“I am very pleased that Ilya chose Bremen. His research addresses one of the most exciting questions in modern biogeosciences – the development of complex life on Earth. He uses state-of-the-art methods in biomarker analysis, which also show enormous potential for our research of marine ecosystems in recent Earth history as part of the Ocean Floor Cluster of excellence," emphasizes Prof. Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Director of MARUM.
Dr. Ilya Bobrovskiy
ERC Starting Grant Research Group
Email: ibobrovskiy@marum.de
https://www.marum.de/en/Bobrovskiy-ERC.html
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101166087 Project description
https://www.gfz.de/en/press/news/details/erc-starting-grant-fuer-dr-ilya-bobrovs... Press release by GFZ
Dr. Ilya Bobrovskiy will establish a research group at MARUM as part of his ERC Starting Grant. Phot ...
Source: MARUM
Copyright: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, V. Diekamp
Criteria of this press release:
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Biology, Chemistry, Environment / ecology, Geosciences, Oceanology / climate
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Dr. Ilya Bobrovskiy will establish a research group at MARUM as part of his ERC Starting Grant. Phot ...
Source: MARUM
Copyright: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, V. Diekamp
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