Prof. Dr. Joachim Reitner

General

Dr. rer. nat, Professor of Palaeontology,

Head of Department of Geobiology and Managing Director of Museum, Collections & Geopark

Department of Geobiology Center for Geosciences at the University of Göttingen - GZG
Faculty of Geosciences and Geography

Goldschmidtstr. 3
37077 Göttingen, Germany
Phone:+49-(0)551-39-7950 (office)
-7951 (secretariat)
Fax: +49-(0)551-397918
E-Mail: jreitne@gwdg.de

Born May 6, 1952, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany

Short curriculum and Awards

Professional career

1980: Diploma in Geology/Palaeontology, University of Tübingen
1980 - 1984: doctoral research fellow, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen
1984: Dr. rer. nat. in Geology/Palaeontology, University of Tübingen
1984 - 1988: postdoctoral research fellow, FU-Berlin
1989 - 1994: Assistant Professor, FU-Berlin
1991: Habilitation in Geology/Palaeontology, FU-Berlin
1993: Visiting Professor, University of Paris-Sud XI/Orsaysince
1998: Ordinary member of the Academy of Science of Göttingen
1999: Call C4 Professorship for Palaeontology, University of Erlangen
2006: Visiting Professor, North-West University of Xian (China)
since 1994: Full Professor (C4) in Palaeontology and Geobiology, University of Göttingen

Awards

1996: G.W. Leibniz Award of the DFG
1998: Ordinary Member of the Göttingen Academy of Science

Editorial Service

Editor in Chief: Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences (Springer)
Co-Editor : Facies (Springer)
Associated Editor: Geomicrobiology Journal (Taylor & Francis)
Editorial Board: Göttinger Universitätsverlag

Scientific duties

Head of the Geobiology Department of GZG and chair of Paleontology and Geobiology
Managing Director of the Geoscience Museum, Collection, and Geopark of the GZG
2002 - 2004 dean of the faculty of Geosciences and Geography
2001 - 2002 and 2005 - 2007 vice dean of the faculty of Geosciences and Geography
Member of the steering committee of Göttingen Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology (GCBE)
Member of the research commission of the academic senate (Univ. Göttingen) (since 2005)
Deputy senator of the academic senate of the university of Göttingen (2005-2007)
Vice President of the German „Paläontologische Gesellschaft“ (since 2005)
DFG selection board Heinz Maier-Leibnitz award (since 2005)
Referee for funding agencies: DFG, NERC, ARC, NSF-USA, Humboldt-Foundation, et al.
Referee for scientific journals: Geochimica, Cosmochimica Acta, Palaeo3, Facies, Jour. Paleontology, Geomicrobiology Journ., Geology, et al.

Research topics

Geobiology of prebiotic and early life processes
Astrobiology
Biomineralization and biodiversity of rock-forming biofilms and microbial mats
Geomicrobiology and biogeochemistry of the deep subterranean biosphere (“Deep - Biosphere”)
Microbial palaeo-ecology of modern and ancient cold seep environments
Phylogeny and biogeochemistry of basic metazoans (sponges, cnidarians)
Biogeochemistry of eukaryotic biomineralisation (carbonates and silicates)

Research interests and workings areas

Main interests of my research is the interplay between organisms and their metabolic processes with various abiotic parameters.
Many geological processes can be understood as geo-physiological processes, allowing chemical reactions that would never run under standard thermodynamic conditions. Therefore, major research goal of my activities is the investigation of the evolution of these processes, visible in biosignatures and biomineralization patterns, and its interaction with biogeochemical cycles.
These reactions are generally controlled by organic molecules, and often pushed by enzymatic pathways. Fundamental geo-physiological changes of biotic processes navigated bioevents and special biochemical cycles known from earth history. These coupled geo- and biological procedures are possibly not restricted to the earth system and may be realized also on other planets with comparable geological conditions.
The search for life on other planets requires the knowledge of certain biosignatures which could tell us the presence of certain life processes. Biofilms and microbial mats have an important geobiological force and control many geological processes, e.g. cementation and degradation of rock surfaces. This basic research is recently funded by a DFG Research Unit: Geobiology of Organo- and Biofilms .
Therefore, geomicrobiological and biogeochemical investigations, especially from extreme environments and the deep subsurface biosphere play a major role in my research. These activities are focussed on mineral-forming options of basically chemolitho- and generally autotrophic microorganisms. The investigation of the deep subsurface biosphere is an intriguing new research project which probably allows new insights in the dynamic of the planet earth.
Of central interest are also submarine seep-, spring-, and vent locations which harbour various systems of metazoan-microbial communities with geobiological significance. The microbial communities of methane Cold Seeps and their rock-forming ability are in the focus of my recent geobiological research.
The relationship of microorganisms with metazoans is a further main topic of my research. Basic metazoans like sponges harbour significant amounts of symbiontic microbes. The sponge microbial communities exhibit structural and metabolic patterns which are similar to thick microbial mats. Therefore important research foci are the deep phylogenetic roots of these ancestral animals based on molecularbiological and geobiological methods.
These organisms were the first ones in the earth history which produces enzymatically controlled biominerals like silicate- and calcareous spicules, and calcareous basal skeletons. The reconnaissance of the primary environmental conditions and biochemical formation of the sponge skeletons are important points of my ongoing research activities.

Current funded projects

Relict faunas Queensland Plateau Australia (DFG WO 896/7-1), G.Wörheide & J. Reitner.
Sequenzierungen SPP 1174 (DFG WO 896/6-1), G. Wörheide & J. Reitner.
Raman-Mikro-Spektrometer (MWK Nds. 14.1-77 229-10-05-02), J. Reitner & S. Webb.
Characterization of matrix proteins of the coralline demosponge Astrosclera (DFG* WO 896/4-2), G. Wörheide & J. Reitner.
Vertretung für 2 Forschungssemester (DFG RE 665/29-1), J. Reitner.
Titan-Saphir-Lasersystem (MWK Nds. 11-76251-10-3/ 03 (ZN 1985), J. Reitner & G. Arp.
Deep Metazoan Phylogeny: Stammesgeschichte Großgruppe Tiere (DFG* WO 869/6-1), G. Wörheide, J. Reitner & B. Morgenstern.
Verbundprojekt COMET, TP3: Low Temperature Gas & Fluid Venting Systems (BMBF 03G0600D), A. Eisenhauer & J. Reitner.
Phylogenetische Charakterisierung der Hexactinellida...(DFG WO 896/5-2), G. Wörheide & J. Reitner.
FOG-TP3: "Steuerung v. Mineralisa-tionsprozesen durch Prokaryota" (DFG AR 335/5-2), G. Arp, Th.Friedl, E.Stackebrandt & J. Reitner.
FOG-TP2: "Algen u. Cyanobakterien in kalzifizierenden Biofilmen" ( DFG AR 335/6-2), G. Arp, Th.Friedl, E.Stackebrandt & J. Reitner.
FOG-TP1: "Äspö" (DFG RE 665/27-2), J. Reitner, B.T.Hansen, K.Simon, V. Thiel. FOG "Geobiologie von Organo- u. Biofilmen: " - Koordination (DFG RE 665/26-2), J. Reitner.
Characterization of matrix proteins of the coralline demosponge Astrosclera willeyana (DFG* WO 896/4-1,-4-2), G. Wörheide & J. Reitner.
Phylogenie u. molekulare Systematik der Kalkschwämme (DFG* WO 896/3-1, -3-2), G. Wörheide, J. Reitner & . V. Thiel.
Ancient endolithic microorganisms wihin ultramafic rocks... (SPP), (DFG* RE 665/25-1), J. Reitner, G. Schumann, M.E. Böttcher & J. Peckmann.

Recently finished projects

Evolution of multicellular systems and organo-mineralization (EMSO) DFG: Re 665/12-1 (Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Award).
Symbiontic microorganisms within the main clades of the taxon porifera (DFG Re 665/14-1).
Biogeochemistry of porifera-rich mud mounds as indicators of facies changes at the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary (DFG: Re 665/16-1 and 16-2).
Ancient endolithic microorganisms within ultramafic rocks (DFG Re 665/25-1, zusammen mit G.Schumann, Böttcher, M.E., Peckmann, J.) DFG-SPP 1144 Energie-, Stoff-, und Lebenszyklen
Coralline sponges as archives of geochemical and climatological proxies (DFG: Ei 272/10-1)
Porifera from deep water reef habitats of the Norwegian Shelf (Sula Ridge): Taxonomy and Geobiology (BOSMAN) (BMBF: O3FO256C3)
International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP): Biosedimentology of Microbial Buildups (Project No. 380) project leader
Porifera-rich microbialites of the lowermost Liassic of the Eastern Alps. Strategies of re-colonization by ancestral benthic communities on drowned Rhaetian reefs (DFG: Re 665/17)
Biofilme, Makromoleküle und organische Restsubstanzen als Matrizen bei der Bildung von Organo- und Biomineralen – Geobiologische Faktoren bei der Evolution der Biomineralisation (DFG: Re 665/18)
Geobiology of saline fluids from the deep biosphere obtained from the KTB pump test (DFG: Re 665/19)
Coralline Schwämme als Archive geochemischer und klimatologischer Proxies (DFG: Ei 272/10-3; zusammen mit Prof. Dr. A. Eisenhauer et al.)
Die Rekonstruktion der delta44Ca-Isotope des Phanerozoischen Ozeans (DFG: Ei 272/13-1; zusammen mit Prof. Dr. A. Eisenhauer et al.)
BMBF Verbundprojekt(03F0358C) Koordination Prof. W. Michaelis (Hamburg): Boreale Schwämme als marine Naturstoffquelle (BOSMAN) TP2 Reitner: Geobiology and Biodiversity of Arctic and Boreal Porifera
BMBF Verbundprojekt (GO559A-D) Koordination Prof. W. Michaelis (Hamburg): Gas Hydrates: Occurences, Stability, Transformation, Dynamic, and Biology in the Black Sea – GHOSTDABS TP3 Reitner: Carbonate precipitates associated with methane seeps in the northern Black Sea.

publications

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Publication list as pdf