Groene Pioniers (Green Pioneers)
People are naturally curious about discovering new plants in their environments, but often they are unaware of the damage that non-native species can do to the native biodiversity. Groene Pioniers (Green Pioneers) wants to raise awareness and demonstrate how to prevent unintended introductions of harmful plants.
Groene Pioniers (Green Pioneers) studies invasive plants and their dispersion under the influence of environmental and climate change. The goal is to protect our unique ecosystems. To do so, we need data about the dispersion of species, climate and environment to improve the distribution models that predict where plants can grow in the future.
Citizens digitalize and annotate labels of plants in the collection of Meise Botanic Garden. In this way, the collections are completed and made available digitally. Citizen scientists can do this from home via the DoeDat platform or during visiteering events or transcribathons in and outside the Meise Botanic Garden. For young pioneers, the project is working on an educational STEM-package which can be used in schools.
