The presence of the Carl Faust Foundation at the second edition of the Congress of the Spanish Society of Botany (SEBOT), held last September in Seville, was a great opportunity to strengthen ties and establish new collaborations with research centers, universities and botanical gardens. This scientific meeting has highlighted the richness and diversity of current studies in botany, from conservation to new approaches in genomics and ecology.
The extensive program of the congress, of a multidisciplinary nature, has highlighted the great debates and advances that define botany today. Relevant topics such as biogeography and phylogenetic diversity, the conservation of flora and its challenges in the face of climate change, the management of invasive flora, new tools in systematics and taxonomy, as well as the contribution of citizen science and dissemination in botanical research have been discussed. There was also space for reflection on ethnobotany and biocultural knowledge, the importance of herbaria in the 21st century and new advances in aerobiology and plant genomics.
Exchange of experiences
This meeting was an opportunity to exchange experiences and discover how other gardens approach areas as diverse as collection management and outreach.
The Marimurtra Botanical Garden, through the Carl Faust Foundation, has the mission of continuing to be a first-rate botanical research center open to international cooperation. This vision, already present in the thinking of Carl Faust and shared by figures such as Pius Font i Quer, remains alive today with participation in forums where the future of botany and the conservation of biodiversity are debated.
With this assistance, the commitment to research, international cooperation and the dissemination of knowledge of the plant world is reaffirmed, thus contributing to keeping alive Faust’s legacy and his vocation of opening the garden to the world.
