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Chromosome numbers of the flora of Germany—a new online database of georeferenced chromosome counts and flow cytometric ploidy estimates

Plant Systematics and Evolution volume 303, pages 1123–1129 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Chromosomal speciation processes gain increasing attention in plant systematics and evolution, and new approaches revealed a high diversity in chromosome numbers even within recognized taxa. Reliable counts linked to known accessions are thus needed yet often hardly available. We present a new online database for chromosome counts and ploidy estimates of the flora of Germany with a detailed documentation of the examined material, and its sampling locality. The chromosome database builds upon a relational database and includes standardized taxon identification, study date, georeferenced locality and additional collection as well as publication details from which the karyological information was extracted. In order to reach the best compatibility with other botanical publications of the study region, taxonomic concepts and nomenclature follow the “Rothmaler”, a widely accepted field flora of vascular plants in Germany. Our online database is available at http://chromosomes.senckenberg.de. The site consists of the main page with project information, a search tool, an interactive map display, a contact and a data submission form. The zoomable map shows the localities of the search result, allows to refine the geographic search as well as to select individual data points.

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Funding

This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), project “Die karyologische Datenbank zur Flora von Deutschland (Gefäßpflanzen)”(Zi 557/13-1).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Botany and Molecular Evolution, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

      Juraj Paule, Thomas Gregor, Marco Schmidt, Stefan Dressler & Georg Zizka

    2. Data and Modelling Centre, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

      Marco Schmidt & Eva-Maria Gerstner

    3. Berliner Straße 5, 37120, Bovenden, Germany

      Günther Dersch

    4. Department of Botany, Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz, P.O. Box 300154, 02806, Görlitz, Germany

      Karsten Wesche

    5. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

      Karsten Wesche

    6. Department of Diversity, Evolution and Phylogeny of Higher Plants and Lichens, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

      Georg Zizka

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    1. Juraj Paule
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    Correspondence to Juraj Paule.

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    Handling Editor: Ales Kovarik.

    Juraj Paule, Thomas Gregor and Marco Schmidt have contributed equally.

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    Paule, J., Gregor, T., Schmidt, M. et al. Chromosome numbers of the flora of Germany—a new online database of georeferenced chromosome counts and flow cytometric ploidy estimates. Plant Syst Evol 303, 1123–1129 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-016-1362-y

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-016-1362-y

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