Andreas Altenburger- PhD
- Professor (Associate) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Andreas Altenburger
- PhD
- Professor (Associate) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Integrative taxonomy, combining traditional and modern methods for precise species identification and classification.
About
61
Publications
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Introduction
My research interests are in marine invertebrate zoology, developmental biology, evolutionary morphology, protozoology, and eukaryote phylogeny.
I am particularly interested in the discovery and description of marine organismal diversity. I focus on the diversity and evolution of organisms, and the evolution of symbiotic interactions between algae and invertebrate animals and protists. My lab uses comparative molecular methods, as well as bio-imaging in order to study animal evolution.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
May 2016 - December 2019
February 2012 - June 2015
Publications
Publications (61)
R/V Helmer Hanssen is a multipurpose research vessel owned by UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The cruise ‘HHUMTKT25’ was organized and executed by The Arctic University Museum of Norway (units ‘UM’ and ‘UMAK’ at UiT). The six participating projects in this cruise were (1) Scalidophora of Norway, (2) Microfauna and macrofauna in Northern Norway...
We applied FlowCam analysis cross‐validated by 18S rDNA sequences and taxonomic literature to study seasonal and short‐term population dynamics and species turnover in ciliate plankton during 15 months with high‐frequency samplings in a shallow temperate estuary in Denmark. FlowCam imagery identified 27 phenotypic ciliate entities, and 8 genotypes...
Fewer than 50 of the over 30,000 extant species of fishes have developed anatomical specializations facilitating endothermy in specific body regions. The plankton‐feeding basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), traditionally classified as an ectotherm, was recently shown to have regionally endothermic traits such as centralized red muscle (RM) along it...
Background
Evolution is the core of modern biology, but various misconceptions are persistent companions to the theory. The intuitively appealing but discredited suggestion that organisms innately tend to evolve in a predefined direction still lingers, and remains commonly referenced by biologists, the popular media and even educators in the form o...
The longevity (lifespan) and growth rates of a given species provide the basis for estimating its contributions to secondary production and energy flow in an ecosystem, for guiding management decisions, and determining recovery times after disturbances. For brittle stars, a class of echinoderms that dominate the megabenthos in various marine system...
Flatworms in the family Otoplanidae Hallez, 1892, are ubiquitous inhabitants of the swash zone of marine sandy beaches worldwide. We present new insights into the morphology and phylogenetic position of the otoplanid Itaspiella helgolan-dica (Meixner, 1938) based on specimens sampled in northern Norway. While the species was originally described fr...
R/V Helmer Hanssen is an ice class research vessel owned by UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The HHUMLT24 cruise onboard R/V Helmer Hanssen was an initiative by The Arctic University Museum of Norway (UMAK, UiT). Sampling was conducted for the following four projects: 1. The Scalidophora of Norway, 2. The role of microRNAs in animal evolution,...
Diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia, known for their potential toxicity, are integral to the phytoplankton community of the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica. Despite their ecological importance, the diversity and toxicity of Pseudo-nitzschia in this region remain underexplored. Globally, these diatoms are notorious for forming harmful a...
Marine invertebrate habitats are experiencing warming, and oceanic carbon dioxide levels are on the rise. These changes result in shifts in species distributions. Monitoring and understanding these shifts provides vital information because each species plays a unique ecological role, and the human utilization of marine species is intrinsically link...
Two X-ray scans of the priapulid worm Priapulus caudatus (specimen 1 and specimen 2) from the collections of The Arctic University Museum of Norway in Tromsø, with collection number TSZY-106. The dataset was used for the exploration of gut contents as part of a master thesis project.
An X-ray scan of the priapulid worm Priapulopsis bicaudatus collected by the Nansen Legacy project (2019-08-16 AeN Q3 St. P5). Available at https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/bioimages/studies/S-BIAD1015
The dinoflagellate family Warnowiaceae has often been considered to include some of the most complex cells among the protists. The number of described species is around 40, but both the species and generic concepts are in need of revision. Warnowiaceans are often fragile and readily change morphology under the light microscope, and they are usually...
Priapulids are marine, benthic ecdysozoan worms that feed using a distinctive toothed pharynx. While only a handful of lineages have survived to the present day, the Cambrian priapulid stem group left behind a rich record of articulated body fossils and characteristic trace fossils in the form of burrows. Recently, the fossil record of isolated pri...
Priapulids are marine, benthic ecdysozoan worms that feed using a distinctive toothed pharynx. While only a handful of lineages have survived to the present day, the heyday of priapulid diversity in the Cambrian left behind a rich record of articulated body fossils and characteristic trace fossils in the form of burrows. Recently, the fossil record...
The HHUMTL22 cruise onboard R/V Helmer Hanssen was an initiative by The Arctic University Museum of Norway (UMAK) aimed at sampling marine fauna for the museum collections and various research projects undertaken at the museum. Researchers from the Swedish Museum of Natural History and the Department of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Vie...
The Nansen Legacy (NL) JC3 cruise (19.02.-11.03.2022) aimed to fill regional, temporal and scientific gaps following the earlier NL cruises, in particular during the winter-to-spring transition and in the northern part of the NL transect to the Nansen Basin. Joint physical, chemical, and biological sampling and experiments for new technology addres...
Overview over specimens of Gastropoda that are stored in the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (previously Tromsø Museum).
Overview over specimens of Cnidaria and Ctenophora (the obsolete Radiata, hence TSZR) that are stored in the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (previously Tromsø Museum).
Overview over specimens of Bivalvia that are stored in the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (previously Tromsø Museum)
Echinodermata from the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (Tromsø Museum)
Crustacea from the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (Tromsø Museum)
Chelicerata (Arachnida and Pycnogonida) from the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (Tromsø Museum)
Overview over specimens of Annelida that are stored in the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (Tromsø Museum)
Aims
Microorganisms play a dichotomous role in the soil nitrogen cycle through mineralization and immobilization. We aimed to understand how nitrogen availability modifies the effect of microorganisms on plant growth. We hypothesized that soil microorganisms would increase plant biomass following amendment with a substrate rich in organic nitrogen...
Ciliates within the Mesodinium rubrum/M. major species complex harbour chloroplasts and other cell organelles from specific cryptophyte species. M. major was recently described, and new studies indicate that blooms of M. major are just as common as blooms of M. rubrum. Despite this, the physiology of M. major has never been studied and compared to...
Overview over specimens of tunicates that are stored in the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (Tromsø Museum)
Foraminifera and other protozoa from the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (Tromsø Museum)
The Southern Ocean is one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. It is an area heavily dependent on marine primary production and serving as a feeding ground for numerous seabirds and marine mammals. Therefore, the phytoplankton composition and presence of toxic species are of crucial importance. Fifteen monoclonal strains of Pseudo-nitzsc...
Overview over specimens of Bryozoa, Brachiopoda and Entoprocta that are stored in the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (Tromsø Museum).
Occurence data set on GBIF including various marine animal groups including Acanthocephala, Chaetognatha, Echiura, Hemichordata, Myzozoa, Nematoda, Nematomorpha, Platyhelminthes, Porifera, Priapulida, and Sipuncula from the collection of the Arctic University Museum of Norway (Tromsø Museum).
The marine ciliate Mesodinium rubrum is famous for its ability to acquire and exploit chloroplasts and other cell organelles from some cryptophyte algal species. We sequenced genomes and transcriptomes of free-swimming Teleaulax amphioxeia, as well as well-fed and starved M. rubrum in order to understand cellular processes upon sequestration under...
Growing evidence suggests that sexual reproduction might be common in unicellular organisms, but observations are sparse. Limited knowledge of sexual reproduction constrains understanding of protist ecology. Although Teleaulax amphioxeia and Plagioselmis prolonga are common marine cryptophytes worldwide, and are also important plastid donors for so...
Ciliates represent an important trophic link between nanoplankton and mesoplankton. Many species acquire functional chloroplasts from photosynthetic prey, being thus mixotrophs. Little is known about which algae they exploit, and of the relevance of inorganic carbon assimilation to their metabolism. To get insights into these aspects, laboratory cu...
The marine ciliate Mesodinium rubrum is famous for its ability to acquire and exploit chloroplasts and other cell organelles from some cryptophyte algal species. We sequenced genomes and transcriptomes of free-swimming Teleaulax amphioxeia, as well as well-fed and starved M. rubrum in order to understand cellular processes upon sequestration under...
To understand and manipulate the interactions between plants and microorganisms, sterile seeds are a necessity. The seed microbiome (inside and surface microorganisms) is unknown for most plant species and seed-borne microorganisms can persist and transfer to the seedling and rhizosphere, thereby obscuring the effects that purposely introduced micr...
Elysia chlorotica, a sacoglossan sea slug found off the East Coast of the United States, is well-known for its ability to sequester chloroplasts from its algal prey and survive by photosynthesis for up to 12 months in the absence of food supply. Here we present a draft genome assembly of E. chlorotica that was generated using a hybrid assembly stra...
Photosynthetic species of the genus Dinophysis are obligate mixotrophs with temporary plastids (kleptoplastids) that are acquired from the ciliate Mesodinium rubrum, which feeds on cryptophytes of the Teleaulax-Plagioselmis-Geminigera clade. A metabolomic study of the three-species food chain Dinophysis-Mesodinium-Teleaulax was carried out using ma...
This file contains the tentative identifications or massess of compounds either common to or distinct for each of Dinophysis acuminata and Dinophysis acuta
Due to their small size, microorganisms can be widely dispersed and they colonize sterilized soils fast. However, details regarding quickness and successional patterns are poorly understood. We investigated the ability of airborne microorganisms to colonize sterilized soil at different heights above ground, and at different distances to a tree. Soi...
Background
Kinorhynchs are ecdysozoan animals with a phylogenetic position close to priapulids and loriciferans. To understand the nature of segmentation within Kinorhyncha and to infer a probable ancestry of segmentation within the last common ancestor of Ecdysozoa, the musculature and the nervous system of the allomalorhagid kinorhynch Pycnophyes...
A new kinorhynch species, Zelinkaderes yong sp. nov., is described from Korea.
Zelinkaderes yong sp. nov. is described from coastal, sandy habitats in Korea by means of light and scanning electron microscopic techniques. The new species is characterized by the presence of cuspidate spines in lateroventral positions on segments 2 and 9, ventrolater...
We revisited the brachiopod fold hypothesis and
investigated metamorphosis in the craniiform brachiopod
Novocrania anomala. Larval development is lecithotrophic
and the dorsal (brachial) valve is secreted by dorsal epithelia.
We found that the juvenile ventral valve, which
consists only of a thin layer that was previously described as
periostracal,...
We investigated microbiota in surface and subsurface soil from a site, above steam-treated deep sub-soil originally contaminated with chlorinated solvents. During the steam treatment, the surface soil reached temperatures c. 30 degrees C higher than the temperature in untreated soil; whereas the subsurface soil, at a depth of about 40 cm, reached a...
Different features can protect bacteria against protozoan grazing, for example large size, rapid movement, and production of secondary metabolites. Most papers dealing with these matters focus on bacteria. Here, we describe protozoan features that affect their ability to grow on secondary-metabolite-producing bacteria, and examine whether different...
We know little about the ability of protozoa to colonize soils, including their successional patterns. To elucidate this issue, we investigated in which order different protozoan morpho-types colonize sterile soil. We used sterilized soils with different carbon content, and exposed them to the atmosphere for a period of 14 months. Bacteria and flag...
Although most recent phylogenetic analyses include Brachiopoda within Lophotrochozoa, the brachiopod sistergroup relationships within this superclade remain unsettled. In order to shed more light on this issue we investigated the development of the musculature and the nervous system in lecitothropic larvae of rhynchonelliform and craniiform brachio...
The phylogenetic position of Brachiopoda remains unsettled, and only few recent data on brachiopod organogenesis are currently available. In order to contribute data to questions concerning brachiopod ontogeny and evolution we investigated nervous and muscle system development in the craniiform (inarticulate) brachiopod Novocrania anomala. Larvae o...
Despite significant methodological progress, Brachiopoda remains one of the lophotrochozoan phyla for which no recent ontogenetic data employing modern methodologies such as fluorescence labelling and confocal microscopy are available. This is particularly astonishing given the ongoing controversy concerning its phylogenetic position. In order to c...
Larval musculature of Argyrotheca cordata. Movie of a confocal scan through a fully developed larva of Argyrotheca cordata to illustrate the three-dimensional arrangement of the larval musculature.
Background: Despite significant methodological progress, Brachiopoda remains one of the lophotrochozoan phyla for which no recent ontogenetic data employing modern methodologies such as fluorescence labelling and confocal microscopy are available. This is particularly astonishing given the ongoing controversy concerning its phylogenetic position. I...
