Balkan biodiversity across spatial and temporal scales -

patterns and mechanisms driving vascular plant diversity

BalkBioDrivers

Scientific objectives

Using novel data gap and GIS analysis techniques, different models for identifying and delimiting areas where species accumulate, and various novel methods for assessing the relationship between taxa richness and components of ecological heterogeneity, we aim to describe the complex interplay of patterns and processes associated with the variation of plant diversity in the central Balkan Peninsula (Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania). Furthermore, using a wide range of molecular techniques in combination with flow cytometry, chromosome number estimation, pollination experiments, traditional morphometry and niche modeling, we aim to decipher the spatio-temporal evolution of selected model plant groups scattered throughout the Tree of Life to uncover general mechanisms that have contributed to the high biodiversity on the Balkan Peninsula. The planned study will continue to serve as a basis for conservation efforts for endangered and rare plant species in the central Balkan Peninsula.