The symposium of our Section took place from 27th to 30th August 2025 at the Centre for Organismal Studies at Heidelberg University. The symposium was organized by Prof. Marcus Koch and his team (Heidelberg University) and comprised three keynote talks, five symposia with altogether 33 talks (15 student talks), and two poster sessions with 34 posters. The symposium had 92 participants coming from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovakia.
Scientific highlights
The keynote talks were highlights of the symposium and covered a broad range of topics, starting with an evening lecture by Prof. Herbert Hurka on “Florogenesis of the Eurasian steppe belt – a comprehensive interpretation”. The keynote talk by Kirsten Bomblies “Adaptation to cellular challenges in polyploid Arabidopsis arenosa” reported about progress in cytogenetics, while the talk by Yvonne Willi “Elevational range limits and the role of trait integration” bridged the field of evolution and ecology by reporting adaptations of alpine plants.
Five symposia focused on various aspect of plant evolution, phylogenetics and morphology:
- Symposium I, From populations to species (chaired by E. Hörandl/B. Gemeinholzer) had a focus on population and species level studies
- Symposium II, Plant reticulate evolution at different evolutionary scales (chaired by C. Oberprieler/N. Wagner) presented research on hybridization and polyploidy in plants
- Symposium III, Progress in plant systematics and taxonomy (chaired by G. Kadereit/A. Zerdoner Calasan) focused on phylogenomics and morphology in modern taxonomy
- Symposium IV, Plant life at its environmental limits (chaired by M. Koch/C. Bechteler) focused on plant evolution in deserts, steppe and on heavy metal soils
- Symposium V, Omic’s in systematics and evolution (chaired by N. Walden/C. Kiefer) presented progress of whole genome sequencing studies and phylogenomics in various genera of vascular plants.
All 33 talks were given mainly by early career researchers (ECRs) in front of the full audience, and the two poster sessions allowed also a personal presentation of authors by short “flash talks”.
Awards
The Catherine Dörrien student prizes of the Section were given to the best student and poster presentations. The poster prize was awarded to Lara Iaboli (LMU München) for her work on plant diversification and disperser communities in Aglaia (Meliaceae), and the oral presentation prize to Tina Kiedaisch (LMU München) for her study of reticulated evolution in Amaranthaceae sensu stricto using herbariomics.
Social events
In the lunch breaks we enjoyed guided tours through the Botanical Garden of Heidelberg University and the exhibition “timeline of evolution” at COS. The coffee breaks and the dinner on Friday, served at the conference location, provided ample opportunity to network, relax, and exchange scientific ideas.
Annual assembly of the section
The annual section’s meeting included reports of the spokespersons, and the election of the new spokespersons team: Dr. Anze Zerdoner Calasan (Bavarian State Collection for Botany) was elected as the new speaker. Dr. Tim Böhnert (Bonn University) and Dr. Natalia Tkach (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg) were elected as deputy speakers.
Altogether the symposium was successful to report scientific progress of our research field and represented a broad range of topics of plant evolution. It was a nice get-together of young and experienced scientists, and a good opportunity for ECRs to present and discuss their work. We, the former speaker, Prof. Dr. Elvira Hörandl, and our new speakers, thank Prof. Marcus Koch and his team for the organization of this wonderful event and the German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) for support.
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In September 2025
Prof. Dr. Elvira Hörandl, University of Göttingen, Department of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants