Neophytes of Tyrol

Neophytes of TyrolIn a super-regional project, changes in the neophyte flora in the area of historical Tyrol over the last hundred years are to be investigated. Neophytes are plants which have entered or been brought into an area to which they are not native in the last five hundred years. As opposed to cultivated plants, they grow in the wild.

The project partners are Prof. H. Niklfeld (Botanical Institute of the University of Vienna), K. Pagitz (Botanical Institute of the University of Innsbruck), and F. Prosser (Museo Civico di Rovereto). The area of historical Tyrol is so suitable for a comparison of earlier and now because a sufficient amount of historical data is available and because the three administrative regions – the Austrian province of Tyrol, the Italian province of South Tyrol, and the Italian province of Trient – have been researched to a similar extent. Initial findings will be presented at the conference "Zoological-Botanical Research in South Tyrol" held in September of 2006 in the Museum of Nature South Tyrol.