Dr.Eva-Maria Sadowski

I am interested in the evolution of seed plants. I use fossil and extant plant material in order to understand the morphological-anatomical evolution of plants from the Mesozoic to the Recent. Specifically, I am focused on the evolution of terrestrial palaeoecosystems and their biodiversity through time and space. By using plant fossils, I aim to reconstruct habitats, their structure and climate, as well as palaeoecological interactions. This gives new insights into how biodiversity and the environment changed in the past and which processes caused these changes. Moreover, fossil floras help to understand distribution changes of specific plant lineages, as well as the biogeographic and climatic causes. My research is primarily focused on inclusions in amber (fossilized resin), which is a valuable source for exquisitely, three-dimensionally preserved plant organs. I study these plant inclusions with standard light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and new state-of-the-art X-ray based imaging techniques. I use identified plant taxa as indicators for specific habitat types and structure, as well as for the paleoclimate, facilitating the reconstruction of the ‘amber forests’ the amber derives from.