Erstes gemeinsames Meeting zur Phylogeographie von arktischen und alpinen Pflanzen in Zürich, 1.–3. Juni 2001

Abstract

First Joint Botanical Mountain Phylogeography Meeting in Zürich, June 1–3, 2001: Distribution patterns, group differentiation and the evolution of arctic and alpine plants have interested botanists for more than one hundred years. The impact of climatic effects on plant life in Europe during Pleistocene ice ages was recognised very early. Our knowledge on the dynamics of the ice cover during glaciation, the climate changes and postglacial re-immigration of plants is constantly increasing. In combination with molecular methods this offers us fascinating options to re-formulate the questions asked by pioneers of arctic and alpine research and to tackle them with a modern approach. Another reason for the recent popularity of arctic and alpine research is, that the Alps and the Arctic offer an especially suitable framework for investigations of evolutionary mechanisms, because their geological and climatological history is well known and their spatial dimensions are relatively limited.

Each plant species is unique in its combination of ecological demands, distribution pattern, breeding or dispersal systems. Therefore, the question arises to what extent it is possible to generalise on the responses of arctic and alpine species to the ice ages. In this context, the quotation of BROCKMANN-JEROSCH & BROCKMANN-JEROSCH (1926: 1111) is still as relevant as it was when originally released: «The natural history of the European flora is not at a conclusion; it rather is in the middle of process of change. The history of this flora is within one of these transition zones, in which several scientific fields come into contact, intermingle and are influencing each other. Such zones can be very attractive but also dangerous. […] If results gathered with different scientific methods match together and form a uniform picture, this might be very convincing. [But] this can easily be misleading, in the sense that researchers approach problems with a certain prejudice influenced by theoretical considerations, rather than to face these problems in an unbiased way. […] More and more, we should try to investigate all individual cases critically and to solely look at them without considering earlier conclusions and theories in their own and related sciences».