Work groups and research

Vegetation ecology & Biodiversity (Prof. Jürgens)
Vegetation ecology investigates the relation within and between plant societies, as well as the influence of habitats, anthropogenic use or climatic conditions on the vegetation. Biological diversity stands for the diversity of species, but also for the variety of different habitats and the genetic diversity of individuals. The team of Prof. Jürgens works in and coordinates several projects dealing with the global change of floral- or phytodiversity. The major focus lies on Africa. more

Classical and Molecular Systematics (Prof. Rohwer)
Classical systematics examines the phylogenetic relationships of organisms using morphological and anatomical methods as well as applying state of the art techniques like ultrastructural research. Molecular systematics applies latest methods to recognise and interpret genetic information in order to research phylogenetic relationships. more

Scientific Collections
Collections are a traditional scientific resource to research biodiversity. Herbariums serve to conserve dried plants in the long-term. They offer reference material for various tasks including the work on treatments of regional floras, taxonomic revisions of individual plant groups and investigations on changes over time of floras of specific geographical regions.

The Herbarium Hamburgense conserves approximately 1.8 million specimens of all plant groups from all continents. Records of particular relevance like type specimens are digitised in various projects. Data sets of approximately 15,000 records are currently available via the databases of the Virtual Herbarium.

Since December 2004, the natural science collections in Hamburg as well as the Herbarium Hamburgense, the "Algenkultursammlung" (collection of algae), the Botanical Garden and the collection of agricultural plants in the Loki Schmidt Haus are commonly coordinated and represented by the "Verbund der naturwissenschaftlichen Sammlungen der Universität Hamburg" (VNSH). more

BioMonitoring Data Facility
This division is responsible for the most important services for biodiversity research, such as internet appearance, data archiving and software development for combination and processing of biodiversity data. Further are here the contact people for IT questions or standardisation of data. more

Scientific Communication Networking
The Biocenter Klein Flottbek and the Botanical Garden at the University of Hamburg are renowned at a national and international level for coordinating significant scientific networks concerning "biodiversity" and "desertification". more