Sven Buerki, Ph.D.
Dr. Christopher Davidson Endowed Chair in Botany and Associate Professor, Dept of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID; svenbuerki@boisestate.edu
Professional expertise
I am an evolutionary biologist specializing in the genomic mechanisms that underpin plant resilience to global change, including climate change, land-use transformation, and biological invasions. My lab works in close collaboration with landscape stakeholders to develop applied, science-based strategies for genetic rescue, ecological restoration, and long-term ecosystem health.
To support these efforts, we design and implement innovative plant propagation and biobanking technologies that facilitate fundamental research and produce actionable knowledge for conservation and restoration. My lab is committed to a team science approach that integrates academic and practitioner expertise through shared goals, collaborative processes, and a unified technical vocabulary.
In addition to my work in plant resilience, I have expertise in plant taxonomy, molecular systematics, and biogeography. I have a particular interest in the application of international biodiversity informatics standards—such as controlled vocabularies and ontologies—to support robust, interoperable data dissemination.
In my role as scientific director and editor for Flora of the World, I am actively working to publish plant occurrence records and associated digital images in accordance with Darwin Core and Dublin Core standards. This approach ensures that our data are discoverable, reusable, and scientifically valuable.
Professional Appointments
2024 – present: Scientific Director of the Flora of the World Foundation (non-profit), Boise, ID, USA.
2017 – 2023: Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA.
2016 – 2017: Senior Curator in Charge, Ferns and General herbarium I & II, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK.
2015 – 2016: Researcher, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK.
2012 – 2014: Plant Evolutionary Biologist (lecturer level), Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.
2010 – 2012: Marie-Curie postdoctoral fellow, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK), funded by the Marie-Curie Intra-European program.
2010 – present: Research associate, Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint-Louis, MO, USA.
2009 – 2010: SNSF postdoctoral fellow, Real Jardin Botanico, Madrid (Spain), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Education
2009: PhD thesis, laboratory of Evolutionary Botany, University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland): “Worldwide biogeography and systematics of Sapindaceae: a molecular and taxonomic survey combining large data sets and novel methodological approaches”.
2005: Master of Science in Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution, University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), with high distinction: “Biogeography and systematics of the genus Gouania (Rhamnaceae) in the western Indian Ocean”.
Plant taxonomic novelties
I have contributed extensively to the documentation and description of plant biodiversity, with a particular focus on global biodiversity hotspots such as Madagascar and Southeast Asia. This work has been instrumental in shaping my role as an advocate for plant conservation, ecological resilience, and the protection of ecosystem health.
My taxonomic contributions include 162 published names, primarily within the families Sapindaceae, Pandanaceae, and Rhamnaceae. These include:
1 family
6 tribes
4 genera
3 sections
33 species
1 replacement name
114 new combinations
A full list of these names is available on the International Plant Names Index (IPNI).
Selected publications
I have co-authored 131 peer-reviewed publications in collaboration with over 500 international scientists and land management practitioners. My work has been cited 4,706 times, and I currently have an h-index of 37 (source: Google Scholar; August 2025).
Peer-reviewed articles (selected):
Wojahn JMA, Callmander MW, Buerki S. 2025. Pandanus plastomes decoded: when climate mirrors morphology and phylogenetic relationships. American Journal of Botany 112: e16461. doi:10.1002/ajb2.16461
Zuntini AR, … Buerki S, …, Baker WJ. 2024. Phylogenomics and the rise of the angiosperms. Nature, 629: 843–850. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07324-0
Melton AE, Moran K, Martinez P, Ellestad P, Milliken E, Morales W, Child AW, Richardson BA, Serpe M, Novak SJ, Buerki S. 2023. A genotype × environment experiment reveals contrasting response strategies to drought between populations of a keystone species (Artemisia tridentata; Asteraceae). Plant-Environment Interactions, 4: 201-214. doi:10.1002/pei3.10119
Martinez P, Serpe M, Barron R, Buerki S. 2023. Acclimation and hardening of a slow-growing woody species emblematic to western North America from in vitro plantlets. Applications in Plant Sciences, 11: e11515. doi:10.1002/aps3.11515
Melton AE, Child AW, Beard, Jr RS, Dumaguit CDC, Forbey JS, Germino M, de Graaff M-A, Kliskey A, Leitch AJ, Martinez P, Novak SJ, Pellicer J, Richardson BA, Self D, Serpe M, Buerki S. 2022. A haploid pseudo-chromosome genome assembly for a keystone sagebrush species of western North American rangelands. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 12: jkac122. doi:10.1093/g3journal/jkac122
Buerki S, Callmander MW, Acevedo-Rodriguez P, Lowry II PP, Munzinger J, Bailey P, Maurin O, Brewer GE, Epitawalage N, Baker WJ, Forest F. 2021. An updated infra-familial classification of Sapindaceae based on targeted enrichment data. American Journal of Botany, 108: 1234-1251. doi:10.1002/ajb2.1693
Cámara-Leret R, … Buerki S, … van Welzen PC. 2020. New Guinea has the world’s richest island flora. Nature, 584: 579–583. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2549-5
Barron R, Martinez P, Serpe M, Buerki S. 2020. Development of an in vitro method of propagation for Artemisia tridentata subsp. tridentata to support genome sequencing and genotype-by-environment research. Plants, 9(12): 1717. doi:10.3390/plants9121717
Forest F, Baloch E, Brummitt NA, Bachman S, Moat J, Ickert-Bond S, Hollingsworth PM, Liston A, Little DP, Mathews S, Rai H, Rydin C, Stevenson DW, Thomas P, Buerki S. 2018. Gymnosperms on the EDGE. Scientific Reports, 8: 6053. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24365-4
Buerki S, Callmander MW, Bachman S, Moat J, Labat J.-N, Forest F. 2015. Incorporating evolutionary history into conservation planning in biodiversity hotspots. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, serie B, 370: 20140014. doi:10.1098/rstb.2014.0014