By relating the Naturalis botanical collection to abiotic bioclimatic spatial data allows us to define ecological niche profiles of crop species, and their evolutionary related wild relatives.
Projection of the niche profiles to predicted future climatic conditions identifies crops and wild relatives that are able to cope with warmer and drier future climatic conditions. Cross-breeding crops with their adapted wild relatives will increase future crop yields and thereby the collection of Naturalis contributes to ensure global food security for the 11 billion people that populate the earth by 2100.
With one of the largest Natural History collections in the world Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity research. We contribute to this by carrying out top notch and inspiring research that attracts scientist from across the globe to spend time and work in NBC and its collections.