Event description
Climate change is affecting natural and anthropogenic ecosystems. Over the past years, the Botany Section at University of Bonn and Bonn University Botanical Gardens have looked into these changes both from a scientific perspective - climate change, regional biodiversity and conservation, climate change scenarios in the Andes - and from a practical perspective - re-organizing the garden´s plant collections to better reflect both the challenges and the opportunities of the changing climate.
Regionally, we’ve observed dramatic changes in species ranges - with boreal taxa such as clubworts dramatically losing ground and forest composition and structure shifting. Historically rare, xerothermic species, on the other hand, are benefiting from the warmer climate and expand their ranges. Similarly, in our gardens, species from colder climates are getting difficult to keep, whereas formerly marginal species are thriving and many mediterranean and substropical species flourish. As a “listed” historical garden, we have to maintain the overall layout of our gardens, but are able to adjust plantings and horticultural practice to the requirements of the 21st Century. The future may be a foreign country, but we are starting to learn the language.
About the speaker:
Professor Maximilian “Max” Weigend is a botanist, Professor of Plant Biodiversity at the University of Bonn, and Director of the University’s Botanic Gardens, a role he has held since 2011. His research explores plant diversity and evolution, with particular interests in systematics, taxonomy, biogeography, ecology, and functional morphology. Weigend has a longstanding relationship with Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, strengthened by a Memorandum of Understanding between the Oxford and Bonn botanic gardens that supports collaboration in research, education, horticultural practice, and knowledge exchange.
