Frank Riedel

Prof. Frank Riedel is a Professor of Paleobiology at the Free University of Berlin's Institute of Geological Sciences. His roles include Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ecosystem Dynamics in Central Asia (EDCA) and co-director of the Sino-German Center for Arid Environment and Paleoclimate Research. He has held guest professorships at Yunnan Normal University since 2011. Riedel holds a Ph.D. from Hamburg University and has conducted extensive research in paleontology, environmental change, and mollusc evolution.

His research focuses on three interlinked areas: environmental change dynamics in Central Asia, ancient lake ecosystems, and Caenozoic gastropod evolution. He leads projects analyzing climate variability via isotopic data, ancient lake systems in Botswana and China, and mollusc-based environmental archives.

Riedel has authored/co-authored over 100 publications since 1992, with recent work emphasizing African baobab climate archives, Tibetan Plateau hydrology, and gastropod phylogeography. His work has been featured in journals like Quaternary Science Reviews and BMC Evolutionary Biology.

He has secured DFG grants for projects including climate simulations in Lesotho (2020–present), Tibetan Plateau gastropod studies, and ancient lake reconstructions. His contributions span fieldwork in Russia, Cuba, India, and Botswana, with a focus on integrative paleoenvironmental analysis.

Notable achievements include founding EDCA (2001) and co-organizing the 4th International Symposium on Speciation in Ancient Lakes (2006). His lab focuses on mollusc shell isotope analysis and paleolimnological techniques to decode geological and climatic histories.