Botany

Botany (plant sciences) is the branch of biology that study plants. We have three different postgraduate programs within the department: plant physiology, plant systematics, and plant ecology. The research is based on laboratory work as well as field work, performed for example in Sweden, in areas with a Mediterranean climate, and in the tropics.

In Plant Physiology, the life processes of photosynthetic organisms are studied. The aim is to better understand how plants develop and function in changing environments. The research in Plant Physiology is focusing on many different organisms, from marine cyanobacteria, macro algae and seagrasses to terrestrial plants such as mosses, acthinorhizal plants, cereals and the model plant Arabidopsis. The department's plant physiological research spans both theoretically and experimentally over many levels, such as cell biology, molecular biology, genome analysis, evolution and ecophysiology.

In Plant Systematics we study plant diversity, phylogeny, and evolution. The research is performed at different systematical levels (e.g. species, families or other groups), using different methods and from different angles. We seek explanations for species richness, character evolution and distribution in time and space. Most studies are based on phylogenetic reconstructions using molecular data, but also based on external characteristics (morphology). Plant systematists also describe new species, and are engaged in detailed morphological studies, and classification of plants. Knowledge of species, species names and their phylogenetic relationships is an important prerequisite in other disciplines of biology, including conservation biology and nature protection.

Ongoing research with contact people

Plant Physiology

Metagenomics in the Baltic Sea, large-scale sequencing of microbial populations (Birgitta Bergman)

Production of a neurotoxin, BMAA in cyanobacteria and its accumulation in the food chain (Sara Jonasson)

Seagrass meadows – the function of the most productive ecosystems (Mats Björk)

Phytoremediation - the use of plants to clean soil or water from heavy metals (Maria Greger)

Plant defence against insects (Lisbeth Jonsson)

Plant interactions with pathogenic fungi (Sophia Ekengren)

Symbioses between mosses and nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria (Ulla Rasmussen)

Symbioses between vascular plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Katharina Pawlowski)

Calcium in plant- internal signal transmission (Sylvia Lindberg)

Plant Systematics

Evolution of Gnetales and other seed plants (Catarina Rydin)

Phylogenetic plant geographical studies of Rubiaceae (Birgitta Bremer)

Systematic studies of the Asteraceae (Per Ola Karis)