The scientific power of conservation biology
The Department of Biology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is a diverse community of biologists, ecologists, and educators striving to understand the living world: from molecular processes to the functioning of global ecosystems.
In their research and teaching activities, they also collaborate with researchers from the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The department generates new knowledge and educates future researchers and teachers who will be open‑minded and adaptable enough to face future challenges and to pass knowledge on to the next generations.
Conservation biology …
In a time of rapid technological development and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, we are confronted with serious challenges such as the biodiversity crisis, the climate crisis, and the degradation of the natural environment. Addressing these issues requires close integration of research in biology, ecology, and other natural sciences. Researchers place special emphasis on conservation biology, within which they use biological methods to contribute to the preservation of endangered and rare species and to achieving a favourable conservation status in the natural environment.
Their scientific curiosity has been drawn to three plant species in particular: Hladnikia pastinacifolia, Linnaea borealis, and Apium repens. All are unique, rare, and endangered.
preserves …
To ensure the long‑term conservation of Slovenia’s most remarkable endemic species, Hladnikia pastinacifolia, their work combines fundamental research with conservation biology. They have developed a protocol for cultivating the species in tissue culture and optimized cryopreservation procedures using two encapsulation methods: encapsulation dehydration and vitrification. Hladnikia is a monotypic species (the only species in its genus), found on only a few square kilometres on the northern and southern edges of the Trnovo Forest Plateau in the Primorska region. Due to its exceptional rarity, it is potentially endangered. Therefore, long‑term capsules with active tissue culture can, if necessary, be reintroduced into nature, even after extended storage, should natural populations become threatened.
protects …
Linnaea borealis has fascinated researchers because of its small, isolated population in the Slovenian Alps, where it grows in a very limited area under unique microclimatic conditions. The species is named after the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. The epithet borealis indicates its northern distribution in Scandinavia, Russia, and North America, while isolated occurrences can also be found farther south in the Alps.
Because this population is extremely isolated and grows at a low elevation, it raises questions about its origin and history. Research has shown that the Slovenian population is genetically very homogeneous – an impoverished population that reproduces mainly vegetatively (clonally), as fewer than 10% of flowers produce fruit. Boreal populations in the north are genetically more diverse, whereas the Slovenian and nearby Austrian populations demonstrate separate evolutionary histories without mutual mixing. These findings support the idea that the species is a glacial relict, a remnant of the Ice Age that survived glaciations and remained in the same location due to favourable microclimatic conditions.
and returns to nature …
Due to its local extinction in Slovenia, Apium repens, an extremely rare and endangered European species, has also become a subject of research at the Department of Biology. Its reintroduction into nature was seen both as a challenge and as an opportunity to preserve biodiversity along the Drava River.
Apium repens is a species of European conservation importance (a Natura 2000 species) that became extinct in Slovenia due to the fragmentation of its habitat: muddy riverbanks and shallow side channels of the Drava River. As part of the “ZaDravo” project, the aim was to reintroduce the species into its natural habitat. Live plant material was obtained from the nearest natural population in Croatia, and in the faculty’s laboratory, a protocol for rapid tissue‑culture propagation (micropropagation) was developed. The propagated plants were rooted, acclimatized in the greenhouse, and prepared for reintroduction. Eighty plants were reintroduced across seven sites along the Drava, where they successfully flowered and produced seeds. Although not all survived, particularly after the 2023 floods, their ability to reproduce vegetatively and produce seeds indicates good potential for long‑term survival of the species at the new locations.
rare, endangered, or locally extinct species.
Nature is under threat: species, populations, habitats, and ecosystems. Science can help by identifying why species are disappearing and which habitats are endangered. Research into genetics, reproduction, coexistence, and the living environment of species enables measures to improve or restore these habitats, and this will remain a guiding goal for researchers at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in the future.red. prof. dr. Mitja Kaligarič