Jonas O Wolff

Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Germany

Jonas is a zoologist with a research focus on macro-evolution, comparative biomechanics and arachnology. He is based in Northern Germany.

Collaboration statement

My interest in trait databases is based in the goal to understand macro-evolutionary patterns through space and time, especially how and why similar environmental conditions often lead to striking convergences in morphologies and functions, and sometimes not. I see strong benefits for trait databases as repositories for (functional) phenotypic data not only for functional ecology and conservation, but also for the field of comparative biology. A major challenge in generating comparative trait data sets across the diversity of life is to overcome barriers in collaboration and communication between “taxon bubbles”, i.e. the research communities working on distinct taxa. The OTN is excellent to break out of these bubbles.

I am a co-author of the World Spider Trait database (https://spidertraits.sci.muni.cz/) and the AnimalTraits database (https://animaltraits.org/).

If you are working on a comparative project across taxa, and need specific data on arachnids or help with phylogenetic comparative analyses, please drop me an email. Also I like to contribute to projects aiming to harmonize trait data between (animal) trait databases, as well as working towards focal trait assemblies.

Publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=__AZ0ncAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao