Herbariomics

The United Herbaria Z+ZT of the University and ETH Zurich house about 2.5 million vascular plant specimens from all around the world. The collections are particularly rich in samples from Switzerland and therefore constitute an invaluably dense record of plant biodiversity from the last two centuries for this country.

Together with our partners, we pursue various lines of research. We combine next-generation sequencing, population genomic and phylogenetic approaches to investigate plant evolution from the macro- to the micro-evolutionary level. We further develop bioinformatic solutions, to record and store the wealth of metadata resulting from digitalization projects, and to distribute such information more widely on the Internet. Needless to say, we also like to collaborate with science historians, to reconstruct the journeys behind our collections.

Currently, we participate in several studies using DNA from ancient herbarium specimens, to monitor genetic changes in response to climate, habitat or management alterations over the last 200 years, and digitize our records from the canton of Valais, to extract historical distribution data for subsequent vegetation modelling.