Volunteering

The Bavarian State Collection for Botany seeks volunteers for the herbarium in the following areas.

  • Flowering plants
  • Bryophytes
  • Slime moulds
  • EDP

All occupations provide insights into fields of work that are characteristic of natural science collections. Volunteer herbarium staff receive free admission to the Botanical Garden München-Nymphenburg.

Flowering plants

We keep 1.9 million dried and pressed vascular plants from all over the world in our scientific collection, and new ones are added on a regular basis. To add them to the collection, they must first be mounted on sheets of paper using skillful dissection with special adhesive strips. This work offers the opportunity to study the aesthetics of plants and learn about many different forms in a short period of time.

Please contact Dr. Hans-Joachim Esser or Dr. Andreas Fleischmann.

Bryophytes

Our significant collection of bryophytes with around 350,000 individual specimens was unable to be organized sufficiently in recent years due to a lack of personnel and space. It includes many bryophytes that are unique for science, especially from the tropics, and should be preserved according to their importance. For this purpose we are looking for botanically and historically interested employees who enjoy sorting, labelling and deciphering old scripts.

Please contact Dr. Andreas Beck.

Slime moulds

The slime mould collections in Munich are among the largest in the world. Especially the collection of M. Schnittler increases constantly (see also online-database). The small matchboxes with filigree fruiting bodies have to be sorted, labelled and integrated into the respective collection parts and drawers. This work reveals a largely unknown group of microorganisms in all their beauty.

Please contact Dr. Andreas Beck.

EDP

The Bavarian State Collection for Botany is conducting a number of database projects in the area of biodiversity informatics. We are looking for dedicated staff to support our IT working group. You can assist with the technical support of PCs, take on special data entry and maintenance tasks via database clients, or digitize and index images.

Please contact Dr. Andreas Beck.