The BGBM is a major depository for botanical materials and literature in Germany, and a major botanical centre in Biodiversity Informatics. It holds a herbarium of over 3.8 million specimens.
A state – of – the – art storage facility houses c. 3.8 million specimens of vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, lichens, and algae from all over the world. There are special collections of fruits and seeds, as well as plant fibres, resins, wood samples and wet collections. The Berlin Botanic Garden holds the second largest living plant collection in Europe, which constitutes a key asset of outstanding importance with a particularly high percentage of fully documented material collected. The Dahlem Seed Bank contains at present about 6,000 seed collections from all over the world, many of them from rare or threatened species.
As well as access to the collection and the other holdings, there is a deep – freeze repository for the DNA of botanical organisms, which is part of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN).
Laboratory facilities include two fully equipped molecular systematics and population genetics facilities, optimised for middle high – throughput analysis, well-equipped facilities for classical (micro-) morphology and cold field emission electron microscope and state – of – the – art next generation sequencing facilities. Users benefit from excellent scientific and technical know – how, as well as a large amount of established methods and protocols.
The BGBM library houses almost 200,000 volumes, including rare works and 9,000 periodicals.
The expertise and research projects of BGBM scientists focus on the taxa Asterales, Caryophyllales, Lichens and Diatoms, and the geographic regions of Europe, the Mediterranean, Cuba, and the Caribbean.Institution info
Juraj Paule, j.paule@bo.berlin
Berlin, Germany
Contact
Dr. Eva Häffner, e.haeffner@bo.berlin
Juraj Paule, j.paule@bo.berlin
Berlin, Germany
http://www.bgbm.org
