Conserving the Endemic Flora of the Carpathian Region

Increasing our knowledge and furthering the protection of endemic and endangered flora of the Carpathian Region

Mountainous landscape with lakes

The Carpathian Mountains, an iconic centre of biodiversity in temperate Europe, harbour a remarkable number of endemic vascular plants. Current knowledge on the taxonomic status, spatial distribution and genetic diversity of this unique flora is, however, incomplete. To enable effective conservation of the Carpathian flora, there is an urgent need to synchronise research and conservation measures across political borders. The current project involves partners from seven countries, working collaboratively in conservation, research and sharing of standardised data for the Carpathian flora through the Carpathian Research Network. 

The conservation component of the project focuses on long-term seed conservation of endemic and/or endangered species, and range-margin populations from the Carpathians. 

The research component will focus on selected taxa (Carex L.; Daphne L.; Draba L.; Silene L.; and Soldanella L.) and will aim to increase our understanding of the evolutionary processes involved in the origin of the Carpathian flora, thereby illuminating the role of the Carpathians in shaping the genetic diversity of the European mountain flora. 

Finally, the project will establish the Carpathian Research Network (CRN), providing an official framework for pooling, sharing and standardising scientific data on Carpathian endemics from different countries. The CRN is developing an online database of species distribution (The Carpathian Endemics Distribution Database, CEDD), including their intrinsic and extrinsic traits and current opinion on their taxonomic status.

Team

Dr Aisyah Faruk
Dr Elinor Breman

This project has three main outputs:

  1. Long-term seed conservation of the Carpathian flora
  2. Case studies on comparative taxonomy, phylogenetics, population genetics and biogeographic analysis of selected endemic taxa (Carex L.; Daphne L.; Draba L.; Silene L.; and Soldanella L.)
  3. Establishing the Carpathian research network and development of the Carpathian Endemics Distribution Database
  • Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak academy of Sciences (PSBCSAS), Bratislava (Slovakia)
  • Institute of Biological Research Cluj-Napoca (ICB), National Institute for Research and Development in Biological Sciences, Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
  • "A. Borza" Botanical Garden Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB), Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
  • W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences (IB PAS), Kraków (Poland)
  • Herbarium and Department of Botany, Charles University (DBCU), Prague (Czech Republic)
  • Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) on behalf of Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine (LECA), Grenoble (France)