Dr. Alessia Guggisberg

Research area

I have recently started a project aimed at monitoring genetic changes through time and space in members of the genus Murbeckiella (Oreophytoneae - Brassicaceae). Currently, I am following three main goals:

1) Phylogeny of the genus Murbeckiella, to delineate the five species currently recognized in the genus Murbeckiella using whole-genome sequence data and morphological trait analyses.

2) Phylogeography of M. pinnatifida, to reconstruct the origin and demography of M. pinnatifida populations in the Pyrenees, the Massif Central and the Alps using whole-genome sequence data.

3) Retrospective genomic monitoring of M. pinnatifida populations from the Valais/Switzerland over the last two centuries, to detect putative genomic changes resulting from demographic or adaptive processes.

I am also leading several digitisation projects at the United Herbaria Z+ZT. At the moment, we are preparing two new projects that are partly being financed by the ETH Library:

1) Complete inventory of the diatom collection of Friederich Meister, consisting of microscopic preparations, notebooks and glass slides.

2) Complete digitisation of the Gentianaceae holdings for an estimated total of 25,000 records to ensure the incorporation of new collections.

Past digitisation projects funded by the ETH Library included among others:

• Complete inventory of the herbarium, in order to reorganise the collections according to most recent phylogenetic findings in a subsequent stage.
• Digitisation of about 90,000 records from >2,100 species from the canton of Valais to support an ongoing "citizen-science" project (www.floravs.ch).
• Digitisation of all Brassicaceae for a total of about 82,000 records from >1,600 species from 125 countries for collection-based research.
• Mounting and digitisation of 12,000 specimens from the herbarium of Gilbert Bocquet with a special focus on the Mediterranean.
• Mounting and digitisation of 2,500 gatherings from the botanical field trips of Hans E. Hess to Angola in the 1950s.

Already processed specimens can be accessed through the database of the United Herbaria Z+ZT or GBIF.

Last but not least, I am in collaboration with several research groups from the University of Zurich, the University of Basel, the University of Heidelberg, and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, which use herbarium specimens to address evolutionary questions related to crop domestication and trait evolution. I further coordinate the sampling of historical plant probes within the framework of a 3-year pilot study meant to monitor the genetic diversity of plant, fungal and animal species in Switzerland.