Team 'Safeguarding the Belgian Flora'
Mission
Our group combines taxonomy, ecology, and conservation to protect Belgium’s vascular plant diversity in a changing world.
Team’s activities
Our research team is dedicated to understanding, conserving, and restoring the diversity of Belgium’s vascular plants in a rapidly changing world. We combine fundamental and applied approaches, ranging from field-based restoration projects to experimental and collection-based research.
A central focus is the conservation of native species, whether through the preservation of genetic material in seed banks, the management of living collections, or the reintroduction and reinforcement of threatened populations in their natural habitats. We leverage historical and contemporary records—herbarium specimens, seed banks, and trait data—to study how plants respond to global change.
Alongside conservation of native flora, we maintain a critical overview of Belgium’s vascular plant diversity by monitoring non-native and invasive species, updating the national flora, and assessing their ecological impacts.
Through this combination of hands-on restoration, long-term monitoring, and innovative research, our group aims to safeguard the Belgian flora and the ecosystems it sustains.
Contact
- Bes Vandenbroele - Karen de Pauw (coordinators)
Our Research scientists
- Bes Vandenbroele
- Anne Ronse
- Filip Verloove
- Sandrine Godefroid
- Robbe Cool (PhD)
- Thomas Vanneste (Meise-FWO Post-doc)
- Lore Hostens (FWO PhD)
- Willem Goossens (FWO PhD)
- Karen de Pauw
Our Honorary Research Associates
- Dries Van den Broeck
- Ivan Hoste
- Leo Vanhecke
- Annelies Jacobs
- Jan Rammeloo
- Dirk De Beer
- Elly Vaes