phone: +49 (0) 641 99-35722
fax: +49 (0) 641 99-35709
E-mail: christian.albrecht@allzool.bio.uni-giessen.de

 Fields of interest / focus of work 

• Patterns and processes of invertebrate diversification in long-lived limnic ecosystems
  
• Mechanism of species invasions in freshwater
• Biogeography of freshwater mollusks
• Phylogeny and systematics of aquatic pulmonate gastropods (Gastropoda: "Basommatophora")
  

• 1995 - 2001: Studies in biology, F. Schiller University Jena, Germany
• 1999 - 2000: "Visiting research student", University of California, Los Angeles, USA
• 2001: Diploma (MSc) in Biology, F. Schiller University Jena: Invasion biology of a species with low mobility – the Mediterranean terrestrial snail Otala lactea (O.F. Müller 1774) in southern California.
• 2001 - 2004: Research fellow, J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt/M., Germany
  
• 2005: Ph.D. "summa cum laude", J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt/M., Institute of Zoology, Department of Ecology and Evolution: Patterns and processes of diversification in the Basommatophora (Gastropoda: Pulmonata).

• since 2005: Post-doctoral researcher, Justus Liebig University Giessen

• List of peer-reviewed and book publications since 2000
  

Awards & grants

• Winner "Young Scientists - Biology" Federal state Thüringen 1991
• German contest "Young Scientists - Biology"; delegation to European contest "YEER - Young Europeans Environmental Research", representing Germany (1991)
• 2nd Award Winner European contest "YEER - Young Europeans Environmental Research" (1991)
• Guest of Honor, Air Lingus Young Scientist Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland 1992
• Winner "Young Scientists - Geo- and Space Sciences" Federal state Thüringen 1992
• Representative of Germany at 1st International Summercamp in Ecology (1992)
• Third best poster at triannual World Congress of Malacology, Perth (Australia) 2004
• Award for the best Poster Presentation (as co-author), SIAL IV, Berlin 2006
• Young Scientists Award of the Justus Liebig University Giessen 2007
• Secretary of SIAL V "Speciation In Ancient Lakes", Ohrid 2009 (2008 to date)
• Award for the best Poster Presentation (as co-author), SIAL V, Ohrid 2009

• Member of SIAL (Speciation in Ancient Lakes)
  
• Member of the Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft
• Member of Unitas Malacologia
  
• Member of the German Malacological Society (DMG)
• Member of Arbeitskreis Biogeographie
• Member of the National Geographic Society
• Member of the Naturschutzbund Deutschland
• Member of the Verein der Freunde und Förderer des Naturkundemuseums Erfurt
  

• Supervision of undergraduates and graduate students
• Practical courses in zoology, evolutionary biology, molecular ecology, limnology and biogeography
• Seminars in biogeography and limnology
• Field courses, excursions

• Major evolutionary events in ancient Lake Ohrid as indicators for its origin and geological history. (In cooperation with Prof. Thomas Wilke (J. Liebig University Giessen); part of DFG research bundle within Priority Program "Continental Deep Drilling" (DFG ).)
  
• Impact of climatic and environmental variability on faunal composition and distribution of molluscan and mammalian faunas in Eastern Africa. (In cooperation with Prof. Friedemann Schrenk (J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt, Dr. Ottmar Kullmer (Research Institute Senckenberg Frankfurt); DFG Research Unit "Rift dynamics, uplift and climate change in Equatorial Africa")
  
• Age, development and limnology of extant Tibetan Plateau lakes: A reconstruction based on phylogeography and palaeoecology of the gastropod genus Radix. (In cooperation with Prof. Frank Riedel (Freie University Berlin) and others; DFG Priority Program "TiP".)
• Testing for non-adaptive radiations in European spring snails. (In cooperation with Prof. Thomas Wilke (J. Liebig University Giessen); Dr. Martin Brändle (Philipps-University Marburg); DFG Priority Program "Radiations – genesis of biodiversity")
• Tracing rapid evolutionary events: Patterns and processes of diversification in European ancient lake macrozoobenthic invertebrates. (In cooperation with Prof. Thomas Wilke (J. Liebig University Giessen))
• Testing biogeographic hypotheses in Wallacea using freshwater gastropods. (In cooperation with Dr. Thomas v. Rintelen (Humboldt-University Berlin; Naturkundemuseum; Institut für Systematische Zoologie). DFG financed pilot study for "Biogeography and faunistic evolution of aquatic organisms in Melanesia".)
• Unraveling enigmatic gastropod radiations: the Acroloxidae (Basommatophora) of ancient Lake Baikal. (In cooperation with Dr. Alena Shirokaya (Limnological Institute, SB Irkutsk, Russian Academy of Sciences))
• Phylogeny and systematics of Lake Titicaca molluscs. (In cooperation with Prof. Edmundo Moreno (Limnological Institute, University of Puno, Peru) and Prof. Thomas Wilke (J. Liebig-University Giessen))
• Speciation in Ancient Lakes: the freshwater pulmonates (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of the ancient lake system on Sulawesi (Indonesia). (In cooperation with Dr. Matthias Glaubrecht and Dr. Thomas v. Rintelen (Humboldt University Berlin; Natural History Museum; Institute of Systematic Zoology))