This research group combines specialists for the systematic study of flowering plants, algae, mosses and fungi with emphasis on European taxa.
The Flora of the Netherlands is continuously updated, and jointly with the in-house Foundation FLORON a database of over eight million plant records covering the last century is maintained. This database (FLORBASE) is used to study the effects of anthropogenic factors and climate change on the wild flora.
Freshwater and marine algae, of immense importance for the quality of our environment, are the subject of detailed systematic, floristic, and phylogenetic research using microscopic, ultrastructural and molecular markers. Their potential role as indicators of ecosystem biodiversity is also studied.
The Macrofungi of the Netherlands are subject of a critical taxonomic study in the long-term project on the Flora agaricina neerlandica. Selected groups are singled out for in-depth phylogenetic and population biological research using morphology, DNA sequences and AFLPs.
Although currently lacking bryological staff, the wealth of floristic information associated with the moss collections are made accessible by the group to outside users for environmental monitoring.
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Last modified on Friday, October 19, 2007 by P. Hovenkamp