Dr Alexandra Zieritz
Email: alexandra.zieritz@cantab.net
Research interests
Having completed my MSc in Ecology at the University of Vienna, I joined the Aquatic Ecology Group for the first time in 2007, to pursue research towards a PhD. The thesis investigated morphological, genetic and evolutionary patterns in freshwater mussels (Unionida) and won the Annual Award 2011 of the Malacological Society of London. I continued my work into the ecology and evolution of these important and highly endangered bivalves during subsequent postdoctoral positions at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany, and Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. Collaborations with these and several other overseas institutions are ongoing.
Current research
Besides continuing work on aquatic molluscs, my current research focuses on invasive species. This is being done within the RINSE project (Reducing the Impact of Non-native Species in Europe), an Interreg IVA Two Seas Region project delivering a cross-border approach to the targeting and management of invasive non-native species in the area surrounding the English channel and the North Sea. My colleague Belinda Gallardo and I are compiling a database of non-natives currently present in this region, including information about their distribution and impacts. We are also using these data to make predications about future introductions and a prioritised list of non-natives requiring management. We will ultimately use bio-climatic and spatial modelling methodologies to predict whether species identified by the horizon scanning exercise will become established in that area.
Publications
- Zieritz A., Sartori A.F., Bogan A.E. & Aldridge D.C. (provisionally accepted pending revision). Variability and a new model for character evolution of umbonal sculptures in the Unionoida. Malacologia
- Zieritz A., Gum B., Kuehn R. & Geist J. (2012). Identifying freshwater mussels (Unionoida) and parasitic glochidia larvae from host fish gills: a molecular key to the North and Central European species. Ecology & Evolution 2:740-750. doi: 10.1002/ece3.220.
- Zieritz A., Clucas G., Axtmann L. & Aldridge D.C. (2012). Shell ecophenotype in the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) determines the spatial pattern in foraging behaviour of an oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) population. Marine Biology 159:863-872. doi: 10.1007/s00227-011-1862-9.
- Carter J.G., Harries P.J., Malchus N., Sartori A.F., Anderson L.C., Bieler R., Bogan A.E., Coan E.V., Cope J.C.W., Cragg S., García-March J., Hylleberg J., Kelley P., Kleemann K., Kříž J., McRoberts C., Mikkelsen P., Pojeta J. Jr., Tëmkin I., Yancey T. & Zieritz A. (2012). Illustrated Glossary of the Bivalvia. In: Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part N, Revised, Volume 1 (ed. J.G.Carter), pp. 1-209, 327 figs.
- Zieritz A. & Aldridge D.C. (2011). Sexual, habitat-constrained and parasite-induced dimorphism in the shell of a freshwater mussel (Anodonta anatina, Unionidae). Journal of Morphology 272:1365-1375. doi: 10.1002/jmor.10990.
- Zieritz A., Checa A.G., Aldridge D.C. & Harper E.M. (2011). Variability, function and phylogenetic significance of periostracal microprojections in unionoid bivalves. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 49:6-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0469.2010.00583.x.
- Hoffman J.I., Peck L.S., Hillyard G., Zieritz A. & Clark M.S. (2010). No evidence for genetic differentiation between Antarctic limpet Nacella concinna morphotypes. Marine Biology 157:765-778. doi: 10.1007/s00227-009-1360-5.
- Zieritz A., Hoffman J.I., Amos W. & Aldridge D.C. (2010). Phenotypic plasticity and genetic isolation-by-distance in the freshwater mussel Unio pictorum (Mollusca: Unionoida). Evolutionary Ecology 24:923-938. doi: 10.1007/s10682-009-9350-0.
- Waringer J. & Zieritz A. (2010). Die Neuseeländische Zwergdeckelschnecke – ein Neubürger aus Übersee [in German]. In: Ökosystem Wien. Die Naturgeschichte einer Stadt (eds. R. Berger & F. Ehrendorfer). ISBN 978-3-205-77420-4. p. 312. Böhlau Verlag GmbH & CIE, Köln Weimar Wien.
- Zieritz A. & Aldridge D.C. (2009). Identification of ecophenotypic trends within three European freshwater mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionoida) using traditional and modern morphometric techniques. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 98:814-825. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2009.01329.
- Zieritz A. & Waringer J. (2008). Distribution patterns and habitat characterization of aquatic Mollusca in the Weidlingbach near Vienna, Austria. Archiv für Hydrobiologie, Supplement Large Rivers 166:271-292.
