Ex-situ or existus?
If plants are rare and endangered can ex-situ conservation in Botanic Gardens prevent extinction? What happens if plants are hampered under cultivation conditions? How does cultivation affect fitness and genetic diversity? We here investigate if ex-situ populations after several years of cultivation are still suitable for re-naturalization. For this reciprocal replantation and genetic diversity of ex-situ and in-situ populations is being analyzed to detect effects of fast evolutionary processes under changing ecological conditions. We hereby use next generation sequencing technologies; the project is in cooperation with the AG Joshi (University Potsdam) and supported by the DFG.
Björn Huwe (doctoral thesis), Birgit Gemeinholzer