Dr. Kevin Karbstein

• 10/2022 – present: Research assistant (PostDoc) at Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry,  Department of Biogeochemical Integration (AG Wäldchen), Jena, Germany – in collab. with TU Ilmenau, Ilmenau, Germany
  
• 10/2021 – 09/2022: Research assistant (PostDoc) at the Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Science,Department of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants (with Herbarium) (AG Hörandl), Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany.
• 12/2017 – 10/2021: PhD student at the Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Science, Department of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants (with Herbarium) (AG Hörandl), Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany. PhD-thesis (DFG, SPP 1991 TaxonOmics): “The biodiversity of apomictic polyploid plants: the Ranunculus auricomus complex.“ (final grade: "summa cum laude")
• 10/2014 – 09/2017: Master of Science in Evolution, Ecology and Systematics, Institute of Systematic Botany with Herbarium Haussknecht and Botanical Garden (AGs Römermann & Hellwig/Prinz), Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany. Master thesis: “Moving beyond assumptions: Relationships between population size, genetic and functional diversity, and habitat heterogeneity in Trifolium montanum.“
• 08/2016 – 09/2017: Research assistant at the Max-Planck-Institute of Human History, Jena, Germany.
• 10/2015 – 03/2016: Internship and following working contracts at Forstliches Forschungs- and Kompetenzzentrum (FFK), Gotha, Germany. Project: “Forest adaptation in the middle, high und ridge altitudes of Thuringian Forest.“
• 10/2011 – 09/2014: Bachelor of Science Biology, Institute of Systematic Botany with Herbarium Haussknecht and Botanical Garden (AG Hellwig/Prinz), Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany. Bachelor thesis: “Biologisch-ökologische Untersuchungen an Thymus praecox Opiz in den Badlands und in den umliegenden Halbtrocken- und Trockenrasen Thüringens mit Etablierung von Mikrosatellitenmarkern.“
• 06/2011: Abitur Gustav-Freytag-Gymnasium Gotha, Thuringia, Germany
• born in Gotha, 1992

Publications (* = shared authorships)

1. Karbstein K, Tomasello S, Wagner N, Barke BH, Paetzold C, Bradican JP, Hodač L, Preick M, Iker I, Vries J, Hörandl E. A hybrid approach for assembling the plastome, mitochondriome, and draft plant genome of diploid Ranunculus auricomus. in prep.
2. Karbstein K, Gockel S, Profft I. Autochthonous high-altitude spruces in German mountain systems - how can we recognize these conspicuous tree types? submitted to Mitteilungsheft ThüringenForst
3. Karbstein, K, Römermann, C, Hellwig, F, Prinz, K. Population size in relation to environmental variability impacts genetic diversity, trait variation, and finally plant performance – a case study on a (semi-)dry grassland species. submitted to Ecology and Evolution.
4. Hodač L^*, Karbstein K^*, Tomasello S, Wäldchen, J, Bradican, JP, Hörandl E. Geometric morphometric versus genomic patterns in a large polyploid plant species complex. Biology, 2023; 12; 418. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12030418
5. Karbstein K, Tomasello S, Hodač L, Wagner N, Marincek P, Barke BH, Pätzold C, Hörandl E. Untying Gordian knots: Unraveling reticulate polyploid evolution by RRS genomic data using the large Ranunculus auricomus species complex. New Phytologist, 2022;235; 2081-2098. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18284; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.30.458250
6. Karbstein K. Untying Gordian knots - The evolution and biogeography of the large European apomictic polyploid Ranunculus auricomus plant complex. Dissertation, University of Göttingen, 2021; 1-475. http://hdl.handle.net/21.11130/00-1735-0000-0008-5946-6
7. Karbstein K, Tomasello S, Hodač L, Wagner N, Marincek P, Barke BH, Pätzold C, Hörandl E. Tracing evolutionary origins of polyploid plant complexes by phylogenomics. BioRxiv, 2021; 1-86. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.30.458250 
8. Karbstein K, Tomasello S, Hodač L, Lorberg E, Daubert M, Hörandl E. Moving beyond assumptions: polyploidy and environmental effects explain a geographic parthenogenesis scenario in European plants. Molecular Ecology, 2021;30; 2659-2675.
   https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15919
9. Karbstein K, Gockel S, Frischbier N, Kahlert K, Konnert, M, Profft I. 'High-altitude spruces' in Central Europe - a summarizing contribution to phenotypic and (epi)genetic differentiation within Picea abies (L.) H.KARST. Allgemeine Forst- und Jagdzeitschrift (AFJZ), 2021;9/10; 197-211. https://doi.org/10.23765/afjz0002068
10. Strecker T, Jesch A, Bachmann D, Jüds M, Karbstein K, Ravenek J, Roscher, C, Weigelt A, Eisenhauer N, Scheu S. Incorporation of mineral nitrogen into the soil food web as affected by plant community composition. Ecology and Evolution, 2021;11;4295-4309.
    https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7325 
11. Karbstein K, Rahmsdorf E, Tomasello S, Hodač L, Hörandl E. Breeding system of diploid sexuals within the Ranunculus auricomus complex and its role in a geographical parthenogenesis scenario. Ecology and Evolution 2020;10;14435-14450.
    https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7073
12. Barke BH, Karbstein K, Daubert M, Hörandl E. The relation of meiotic behaviour to hybridity, polyploidy and apomixis in the Ranunculus auricomus complex (Ranunculaceae). BMC Plant Biology 2020;20;523. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-020-02654-3
13. Karbstein K, Tomasello S, Hodač L, Dunkel FG, Daubert M, Hörandl E. Phylogenomics supported by geometric morphometrics reveals delimitation of sexual species within the polyploid apomictic Ranunculus auricomus complex (Ranunculaceae). Taxon 2020;69;1191-1220. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12365; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.07.896902
14. Tomasello S, Karbstein K, Hodač L, Pätzold C, Hörandl E. Phylogenomics unravels Quarternary vicariance and allopatric speciation patterns in temperate-montane plant species: a case study on the Ranunculus auricomus species complex. Molecular Ecology 2020;29;2031-2049. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15458; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.06.895904 
15. Karbstein, K, Prinz, K., Hellwig, F., Römermann, C. Plant intraspecific functional trait variation is related to within-habitat heterogeneity and genetic diversity in Trifolium montanum L. Ecology and Evolution 2020;10:5015-5033. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6255 
16. Karbstein K, Tomasello S, Prinz K. Desert-like badlands and surrounding (semi-)dry grasslands of Central Germany promote small-scale phenotypic and genetic differentiation in Thymus praecox. Ecology and Evolution 2019;9:14066–14084. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5844 

National and international activities

 - Editor for scientific journals:

• Haussknechtia (http://www.botanische-gesellschaft.uni-jena.de/tbg-Dateien/Page1281.html)

- Reviewer for scientific journals (latest first)

• Plos One, Biology, Planta, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, Biocell, Journal of Biogeography, Taxon, American Journal of Botany, Ecology and Evolution