Michelle Price

Conservatory and Botanical Garden
Ch. de l'Impératrice 1
CH-1292 Chambésy
+41 22 418 51 48
E-mail

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Research Interests

We are interested in the biodiversity, systematics, phylogenetics, phylogeography and evolution of plants and fungi. Situated at the Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the City of Geneva (Director: Dr. P.-A. Loizeau), with its 27 scientists, the laboratory of Plant systematics and biodiversity is divided into four different units (Anatomy and micromorphology ; Microscopy and chromatography ; SIG-remote sensing and teledetection ; and Phylogeny and molecular genetics) that focus on describing and documenting species of plants and fungi, exploring their anatomical and morphological features, establishing their phylogenetic relationships, elucidating the evolutionary processes that shaped them as well as exploring the diversity and composition of plants and fungi that grow in different regions of the world (such as in Switzerland, the Alps, northern Africa, Madagascar, Central America and South America). Our research activities, centred around our herbarium collections, fall into four main categories : taxonomy, systematics and evolution; floras, catalogues and inventories; conservation, ecology and vegetation; and ethnobotany - the history of science. The laboratory is also home to taxonomic specialists in a number of plant and fungi groups (such as the Arecaceae, Aquifoliaceae, Dicranaceae, Gesneriaceae, Pandanaceae, Parmeliaceae and Sapotaceae). Over 50 research projects are currently underway within the institution and these are conducted in collaboration with our network of Swiss or international partners. Our collective research activities result in an average of 60 scientific publications per year.

Researchers: Prof. M.J. Price, Dr. M. Callmander, Dr. C. Chatelain, Dr. C. Christe, Dr. P. Clerc (CC), Dr. L. Gautier (CC), Dr. C. Lambelet, Dr. P.-A. Loizeau (CC), Dr. P. Martin, Dr. Y. Naciri (CC), Dr. L. Nusbaumer (CC), Dr. M. Perret (CC), Dr. F. Stauffer (CC), Dr. N. Wyler.

The Conservatory and Botanical Garden (CJBG), an institution of the City of Geneva, is renowned internationally for its herbarium, its library and its botanical research activities. The herbarium of the CJBG is the sixth largest plant and fungi collection in the world with over 6 million specimens, and its library is also one of the most important in the field of botany with over 200,000 books and 3000 journals. This mine of information on plants and fungi is a fundamental resource for the diverse range of research that is conducted in the laboratory of Plant Systematics and Biodiversity.

Further Reading

See the website of the Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the City of Geneva

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