Matthias Obst

Researcher and Project leader

Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences,
Systematics and Biodiversity
Göteborg University
Box 463
SE-405 30 Göteborg
Sweden

Tel: 46 (0) 31-786 36 62
Fax: 46 (0) 31-41 67 29

Email: matthias.obst@bioenv.gu.se

BioVeL: Biodiversity Virtual e-Laboratory (BioVeL homepage)
Biodiversity Virtual e-Laboratory (BioVeL) is an interdisciplinary project which will develop tools for pipelining data and analysis into efficient workflows, urgently needed to understand biodiversity in a rapidly changing environment. BioVeL customises, deploys and supports the Taverna/ myExperiment / BioCatalogue family of software to achieve this. Using agile processes, BioVeL defines and deploys (web) service sets and workflow packs catering for subcommunities within the a selected number of important areas of biodiversity science. These are: i) DNA sequence-based phylogeny and metagenomics services that provide a measure of genetic diversity used in conservation planning and that help to understand adaptation in relation to climate change; ii) Taxonomy services to provide the underpinning checklist of diversity in Europe, identification aids to native, invasive and economic species; iii) Niche and population modeling for species, to better understand the processes of conservation and invasive species management; and, iv) Ecosystem functionality and valuation services, to improve modeling capabilities to ecosystem services and CO2 sequestration.

LifeWatch (LifeWatch homepage)
Marine ecosystems provide a wide range of economically important products and services to the community and these functions are directly dependent on the biological diversity in these environments. Today, we note major changes in the biodiversity composition of our marine ecosystems, but we have poor control over how large and extensive they are because there is no organized and standardized monitoring system over a wider geographical perspective. At the same time there is no analytical approach available that combines diverse biological disciplines, i.e. ecological, taxonomic, climatic, and genetic data. The practical impossibility to assemble and analyze such complex data sets across large geographic distances is perhaps the most crucial obstacle for biodiversity research to become a dominant scientific discipline in the future. A part of my research will focuses on facilitating meta-analysis of such diverse information in order to understand the changes and functions in marine ecosystems.

Swedish LifeWatch (http://www.slu.se/lifewatch)
A consortium of the important providers and users of biodiversity data at Swedish universities, natural history museums and governmental agencies, will develop a National Infrastructure for Biodiversity Data, based on common standards, distributed databases, web services, and a focal LifeWatch Analysis Platform. At this Platform, all biodiversity data, as well as environmental explanatory variables, will be accessible without transformations and possible to explore and analyse with R statistics, tools for spatial and temporal analyses, and modelling tools for prediction. Here, the researcher can also upload own data and maps and take advantage of the tools as well as data from other sources. Furthermore, we will develop an interface to the next generation of the Species Gateway (Artportalen.se), enabling researchers to adapt the Gateway to suite the researchers’ own demands, e.g. by adding an unlimited number of own variables and decide when to make the data accessible for others. The Swedish LifeWatch Analyses Portal will give opportunities to explore issues never reachable before, e.g. by easily combining data from several primary databases, life history parameters (enabling specific selections), with environmental data, applied to advanced analytical tools.

EMBOS - Development and implementation of a pan-European Marine Biodiversity Observatory System (EMBOS homepage)
Marine biodiversity varies over large scales of time and space, and requires a research strategy beyond the tradition/capabilities of classic research. Research that covers these scales requires a permanent international pan-European network of observation stations with an optimized and standardized methodology. In EMBOS the needed large-scale network of research locations in Europe will be installed to assess long-term changes in marine biodiversity and their possible causes taking into account natural and anthropogenic gradients, and EMBOS will extend and optimize this observatory system, including novel interdisciplinary approaches for research. The cooperation leads to a focused and cost effective long term research agenda for EU marine observatories, and contributes to ERA, LIFEWATCH and GEOSS/GEOBON actions, and supports legal obligations of the EU regarding the CBD, OSPAR and Barcelona conventions as well as EU directives (Bird and Habitat Directive, WFD,MSFD, ICZM).

Important links

BioVeL – Biodiversity Virtual Laboratory (http://biovel.eu/)
LifeWatch (http://www.lifewatch.eu/)
Swedish LifeWatch (http://www.slu.se/lifewatch)
EMBOS - Development and implementation of a pan-European Marine Biodiversity Observatory System
(http://www.cost.esf.org/domains_actions/essem/Actions/ES1003)
MG4U - Marine Genomics for Users (http://www.mg4u.eu/)
 

Scientific Publications 2003 - 2011

Peer reviewed journals and book chapters:

1. Obst M, Faurby S, Funch P (2011) Molecular phylogeny of extant horseshoe crabs (Xiphosura, Limulidae) indicates Paleogene diversification of Asian species. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. In Press.

2. Sköld HN and Obst M (2011) Potential for clonal animals in longevity and ageing studies. Biogerontology. DOI: 10.1007/s10522-011-9333-8

3. Obst M, Nakano N, Bourlat SJ, Thorndike M, Telford M, Nyengaard JR, Funch P (2011) The spermatozoan ultrastructure of Xenotubella bockiWestblad 1949. Acta Zoologica. 92(2): 1-7.

4. Faurby S, King TL, Obst M, Pertoldi C, Funch P (2010) Population dynamics of American horseshoe crabs – a story of historic climatic events and recent anthropogenic pressures. Molecular Ecology 19 (15): 3088-3100.

5. Fuchs J, Iseto T, Hirose M, Sundberg P, Obst M (2010) The first internal molecular phylogeny of the phylum Entoprocta (Kamptozoa). MolecularPhylogenetics and Evolution. 56(1): 370-379.

6. Schander C, Rapp HT, Kongsrud JA, Bakken T, Berge J, Cochrane S, Oug E, Byrkjedal I, Todt C, Cedhagen T, Fosshagen A, Gebruk A, Larsen K, Levin L, Obst M, Pleijel F, Stöhr S, Warén A, Mikkelsen NT, Hadler-Jacobsen S, Keuning R, Petersen KH, Thorseth IH, Pedersen RB (2010) The fauna of hydrothermal vents on the Mohn Ridge (North Atlantic). Marine Biology Research 6:155-171.

7. Kjeldsen KU, Obst M, Nakano H, Funch P, Schramm A (2010) Two types of endosymbiotic bacteria in the enigmatic marine worm Xenoturbella.Applied and Environmental Microbiology 76(8): 2657–2662.

8. Hejnol A, Obst M, Stamatakis A, Ott M, Rouse GW, Edgecombe GD, Martinez P, Baguñà J, Bailly X, Jondelius U, Wiens M, Müller WEG, Seaver E, Wheeler WC, Martindale MQ, Giribet G, Dunn CW (2009) Assessing the root of bilaterian animals with scalable phylogenomic methods. Proceedingsof the Royal Society B 276, 4261–4270.

9. Fuchs J, Obst M, Sundberg P (2009) The first comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Bryozoa (Ectoprocta) based on combined analysis of nuclearand mitochondrial genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 52: 225-233.

10. Sköld HN, Obst M, Sköld M, Åkesson B (2009) Stem cells in asexual reproduction of marine invertebrates, Chapter 5. In: Matranga V & Rinkevich B (eds.) Stem Cells in Marine Organisms, pp. 105-138.

11. Funch P, Thor P, Obst M (2008) Symbiotic relations and feeding biology of Symbion pandora (Cycliophora) and Triticella flava (Bryozoa). Life and Environment 58(2): 185-188.

12. Dunn CW, Hejnol A, Matus DQ, Pang K, Browne WE, Smith SA, Seaver E, Rouse GW, Obst M, Edgecombe GD, Sørensen MV, Haddock SHD, Schmidt-Rhaesa A, Okusu A, Kristensen RM, Wheeler WC, Martindale MQ, Giribet G (2008) Broad phylogenomic sampling improves resolution ofthe Animal Tree of Life. Nature 452 (7188): 745-750.

13. Bourlat SJ, Nakano H, Åkerman M, Telford MJ, Thorndyke MC, Obst M (2008) Feeding ecology of Xenoturbella bocki (phylum Xenoturbellida)revealed by genetic barcoding. Molecular Ecology Resources 8: 18-22.

14. Dupont S, Obst M, Wilson K, Sköld H, Nakano H, and Thorndyke M (2007) Marine Ecological Genomics - When Genomics meets Marine Ecology.Marine Ecology Progress Series 332: 257–273.

15. Obst M and Funch P. (2006) The microhabitat of Symbion pandora (Cycliophora) on the mouthparts of its host Nephrops norvegicus (Decapoda:Nephropidae). Marine Biology 148 (5): 945-951.

16. Obst M, Funch P, Kristensen RM (2006) A new species of Cycliophora from the mouthparts of the American lobster Homarus americanus(Nephropidae, Decapoda). Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 6: 83-97.

17. Funch P, Sørensen MV, Obst M. (2005) On the phylogenetic position of Rotifera - have we come any further? Hydrobiologia 546: 11-28.

18. Obst M, Funch P, Giribet G (2005) Hidden diversity and host specificity in cycliophorans; a phylogeographic analysis along the North Atlantic andMediterranean Sea. Molecular Ecology 14 (14) 4427-4440.

19. Riisgaard HU, Kollerup Nielsen K, Fuchs J, Fønss Rasmussen B, Obst M, Funch P. (2004) Ciliary feeding structures and particle capture mechanismin the freshwater bryozoan Plumatella repens (Phylactolaemata). Invertebrate Biology 123:156-167.

20. Obst M and Funch P. (2003) Dwarf male of Symbion pandora (Cycliophora). Journal of Morphology 255: 261-278.

Cited conference proceedings:

1. Giribet G, Dunn CW, Edgecombe G, Hejnol A, Kristensen RM, Martindale MQ, Obst M, Rouse G, Seaver E, , Sørensen MV, Wheeler WC, WorsaaeK (2008) Reconstructing the Protostome Tree of Life – The past, the present, and the future. Cladistics 26(2): 211-211.

2. Dunn CW, Hejnol A, Matus DQ, Pang K, Browne WE, Smith SA, Seaver E, Rouse GW, Obst M, Edgecombe GD, Sørensen MV, Haddock SHD, Schmidt-Rhaesa A, Okusu A, Kristensen RM, Wheeler WC, Martindale MQ, Giribet G (2008) New Insight into Animal Relationships fromPhylogenomic Analyses. Journal of Morphology 269: 1464-1464

3. Nakano H, Bourlat SJ, Obst M, Nakano A, Telford M, Thorndyke M (2008) Developmental Studies of Xenoturbella. Journal of Morphology 269: 1477-1478.

4. Obst M, Nakano H, Bourlat SJ, Thorndike MC, Telford MJ, Nyengaard JR, Funch P (2008) The Spermatozoan Ultrastructure of Xenotubella Suggestsa Close Relationship to Enteropneust Hemichordates. Journal of Morphology 269: 1478-1478.

5. Fuchs J, Obst M, Sundberg P (2008) The Bryozoa of Sweden - Morphological and Molecular Data in Modern Taxonomic Research. Journal ofMorphology 269: 1485-1485.

6. Obst M (2003) Cycliophoran relationships revisited. Cladistics 19: 159-160.

Popular-scientific articles:

1. Obst M (2009) Grzimek's animal life encyclopedia: Bryozoa

2. Obst M (2008) Auf den Spuren von Linné. Unity 1:12-13.

3. Funch P, Obst M, Wang T (2008) Dolkhalers fysiologi, genetiske diversitet og udbredelse. In: Jörgensen L (ed.) Galathea 3, pp. 222-227.

4. Obst M, Dupont S, Thorndyke M. (2007) In the footsteps of Linnaeus - Microscopic Imaging in Marine Biodiversity Research. Resolution – Leica Research Newsletter 2: 3-6.

5. Obst M and Fuchs J (2007) Skönhet under luppen. Fauna och Flora 102 (4): 16-22.

6. Obst M (2004) Rinbærernes diversitet og evolution. Danske Naturhistorisk Forening Årskrift nr. 14 - 2003/2004: 60-63