Conservation biology and biogeography

The research in my group focuses on conservation biology and biogeography of relict, endemic and threatened plants.

Our main study and model taxa are woody plants with disjunct distribution pattern, with main interest on the genus Zelkova  and Ulmus (Ulmaceae), Pterocarya (Juglandaceae) and Quercus (Fagaceae), as well as Pinus (Pinaceae), Ptilostemon (Asteraceae), Clematis (Ranunculaceae).

Additional interest touches the evolutionary processes, biogeographical patterns and conservation issues of urban, aquatic, arctic and alpine plants, both at regional and global scale.

• Conservation of species, a key issue for our future

  We use various biogeographical, molecular and dendrochronological methods and are conducting intensive fieldwork in the Alps and adjacent mountain chains, in the Mediterranean (e.g., Crete, Sicily), in Transcaucasia (e.g., Georgia, Azerbaijan) and in Eastern Asia (e.g., China).

  Our group is closely connected to the Botanic Garden of the University of Fribourg (I am a director of the Garden) and is intensively collaborating with the Natural History Museum Fribourg (NHMF).

  Internationally, we are closely collaborating with the Shanghai Chenshan Botanic Garden (Chinese Academy of Sciences).

   

• Current projects

  Conservation biology and genetic diversity of Betula nana (Betulaceae).

  Diversity, distribution and conservation biology of the genus Sphagnum (peat mosses) in Switzerland.

  Project SUNLOOP: diversity and conservation of urban plants, with special focus on SUN (spontaneous urban nature).

  Conservation biology and biogeography of relict trees with disjunct distribution pattern (Projects Zelkova, Ulmaceae and Pterocarya, Juglandaceae).

  Diversity, distribution and conservation biology of monilophytes in switzerland and Europe.

  Conservation biogeography and phylogeography of the arctic-alpine species (e.g. Arenaria, Papaver, Calamagrostis, etc.).

  Genomics and conservation biology of threatened Quercus (Fagaceae) species of the Mountain Cloud Forests of China and South Eastern Asia.

  Life on relict trees: relict woody species as ecosystems of other organisms.

  Diversity, distribution and conservation biology of sphagnicole fungi in Switzerland.

   

  Ancient projects:

  Conservation biology and genetic diversity of Ulmus laevis (Ulmaceae).

  Conservation biology and genetic diversity of Clematis alpina (Ranunculaceae).

  Population genetics and distribution of Pinus cembra (Pinaceae) in Western Prealps.

  conservation biology of a narrow endemic Ptilostemon greuterii (Asteraceae) on Sicily.