Research Group Europe and Mediterranean areas

Europe and the Mediterranean area are home to more than 30.000 species of vascular plants. In particular the Mediterranean countries, with their huge variety of mountains and islands, are a unique hotspot of biodiversity. For many years, the BGBM has been particularly active in conducting research on and documenting the European and Mediterranean flora. This includes both the Mediterranean area (Greece, Cyprus, Turkey) and the countries of the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) and also central Europe and Germany.

Transnationally, we are working on a critical inventory of the whole Euro-Mediterranean area, an inventory regularly updated and available online. In the Transcaucasian countries, evolution in their species-rich mountain ranges is examined using model groups. A first modern checklist of vascular plants for Greece has been developed in cooperation between the BGBM and Greek scientists. In Germany, we are closely collaborating with the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation on the production of the German Red Data Books, and we are coordinating the German contribution to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)."