Conservation biology and biogeography

The research in my group focuses on conservation biology and biogeography of relict, endemic and threatened organisms. Our main study and model taxa are woody plants with disjunct distribution pattern, with main interest on the genus Zelkova (Ulmaceae) and Pterocarya (Juglandaceae). Additional interest touches the evolutionary processes, biogeographical patterns and conservation issues of aquatic 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, Japan, Vietnam).

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

• Current projects

  Projects Zelkova and Pterocarya: conservation biology and biogeography of relict trees

  Conservation biogeography and phylogeography of the narrow endemic Papaver occidentale

  Conservation biogeography and phylogeny of the narrow endemic Arenaria bernensis

  Project Nuphar pumila: conservation biology of climate relict