Virtual Herbarium ALTB: collection of vascular plants of the Altai Mountain Country.

Background: The herbarium of the South-Siberian Botanical Garden of Altai State University (ALTB) houses the largest collection of plants from the Altai Mountain Country (AMC), an area that extends across Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China. The collection of ALTB includes more than 450,00 specimens, making it the seventh largest in Russia and the fourth largest amongst Russian university herbaria. Altai State University (ASU), the home of ALTB, is one of the most important centres of academic education and research in Siberia and the Russian Far East.

Comparative Phylogeography of and (Plantaginaceae) Across Europe: Integrating Hybridization and Polyploidy in Phylogeography.

Climatic fluctuations in the Pleistocene caused glacial expansion-contraction cycles in Eurasia and other parts of the world. Consequences of these cycles, such as population expansion and subsequent subdivision, have been studied in many taxa at intraspecific population level across much of the Northern Hemisphere. However, the consequences for the potential of hybridization and polyploidization are poorly understood.