  The evolution of the spin parameter of dark halos and the dependence on the
halo merging history in a set of dissipationless cosmological LCDM simulations
is investigated. Special focus is placed on the differences of the two commonly
used versions of the spin parameter, namely lambda=J*E^1/2/(G*M^5/2) (Peebles
80) and lambda'=J/(sqrt(2)*M_vir*R_vir*V_vir) (Bullock et al. 01). Though the
distribution of the spin transfer rate defined as the ratio of the spin
parameters after and prior to a merger is similar to a high degree for both,
lambda and lambda', we find considerable differences in the time evolution:
while lambda' is roughly independent of redshift, lambda turns out to increase
significantly with decreasing redshift. This distinct behaviour arises from
small differences in the spin transfer during accretion events. The evolution
of the spin parameter is strongly coupled with the virial ratio
eta:=2*E_kin/|E_pot| of dark halos. Major mergers disturb halos and increase
both their virial ratio and spin parameter for 1-2 Gyrs. At high redshifts
(z=2-3) many halos are disturbed with an average virial ratio of eta = 1.3
which approaches unity until z=0. We find that the redshift evolution of the
spin parameters is dominated by the huge number of minor mergers rather than
the rare major merger events.
