Dr. Patrick Weigelt

Senior Scientist
email: pweigel[at]uni-goettingen.de
phone: +49-(0)551-39-28983



Research Interests
I am interested in the distribution of plant life on earth, particularly across oceanic islands and island-like systems. Based on macroecological databases of plant distributions, I study past and present factors shaping today's diversity patterns of endemic, native and alien plant species. To disentangle anthropogenic, abiotic and biotic processes such as speciation and dispersal, I focus on the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic composition and dissimilarity of regional floras at the macroecological scale, i.e. across large spatial and temporal extents.

I am a biologist by training with a background in Tropical plant ecology. During my PhD, I studied "the Macroecology of island floras". To this end, I developed a global database of island floras and characteristics that evolved into the Global Inventory of Floras and Traits (GIFT). GIFT is a global archive of regional plant checklists and floras, physical geographic, bioclimatic and socio-economic characteristics and plant functional traits (Weigelt et al. 2020). It allows for large-scale biogeographical and macroecological analyses based on plant species identities and regional species composition. GIFT data is now publicy available via a new R-package (Denelle et al. 2023). Comprehensive tutorials for using the package and aquiring data can be found here. A recent product based on GIFT is a set of global predictions of plant diversity available here (Cai et al. 2022). In addition, I am a core-member of the Global Naturalized Alien Flora (GloNAF) initiative, a database project about the global distribution of alien plant species (van Kleunen et al. 2015).


Teaching
I am involved in teaching classes in Macroecoogy and Biogegraphy, Quantifying Biodiversity, Plant Morphology and Identification as well as in Botanical/Biogeographic excursions. For helping to offer plant identification classes during the pandemic, I developed BotanizeR, an R-package and shiny app for learning plant characteristics and memorizing plant species names (Weigelt et al. 2022).


Education
2010: M.Sc. in Biological Diversity and Ecology, University of Göttingen
Advisors: Michael Kessler, Hanna Tuomisto & Karsten Wesche

2013: Ph.D. in Biological Diversity and Ecology, University of Göttingen
Advisors: Holger Kreft & Michael Kessler



Selected recent and representative publications
For a comprehensive list of all publications and citations please visit my Google scholar profile.

Cai, L., Kreft, H., Taylor, A., Schrader, J., Dawson, W., Essl, F., van Kleunen, M., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., Winter, M. & Weigelt, P. (2023): Climatic stability and geological history shape global centers of neo- and paleoendemism in seed plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120, e2300981120. pdf

Denelle, P., Weigelt, P. & Kreft, H. (2023): GIFT—An R package to access the Global Inventory of Floras and Traits. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.14213 pdf (see tutorials here)

Barajas Barbosa, M.P., Craven, D., Weigelt, P., Denelle, P., Otto, R., Díaz, S., Price, J., Fernández-Palacios, J.M. & Kreft, H. (2023): Assembly of functional diversity in an oceanic island flora. Nature 619, 545-550. pdf

Taylor, A., Weigelt, P., Denelle, P., Cai, L. & Kreft, H. (2023): The contribution of plant life and growth forms to global gradients of vascular plant diversity. New Phytologist. DOI: 10.1111/nph.19011 pdf

Cai, L., Kreft, H., Taylor, A., Denelle, P., Schrader, J., Essl, F., van Kleunen, M., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., Stein, A., Winter, M., Barcelona, J.F., Fuentes, N., Inderjit, Karger, D.N., Kartesz, J., Kuprijanov, A., Nishino, M., Nickrent, D., Nowak, A., Patzelt, A., Pelser, P.B., Singh, P., Wieringa, J.J. & Weigelt, P. (2023): Global models and predictions of plant diversity based on advanced machine learning techniques. New Phytologist 237, 1432-1445. pdf (visit shiny app for visualization of plant diversity and download)

Lenzner, B., Latombe, G., Schertler, A., Seebens, H., Yang, Q., Winter, M., Weigelt, P., van Kleunen, M., Pyšek, P., Pergl, J., Kreft, H., Dawson, W., Dullinger, S. & Essl, F. (2022): Naturalized alien floras still carry the legacy of European colonialism. Nature Ecology & Evolution 6, 1723-1732. pdf (highlighted in Nature)

Weigelt, P., Denelle, P., Brambach, F. & Kreft, H. (2022): BotanizeR: A flexible R package with Shiny app to practice plant identification for online teaching and beyond. Plants, People, Planet 4, 122-127. pdf (visit BotanizeR shiny app)

Bach, W., Kreft, H., Craven, D., König, C., Schrader, J., Taylor, A., Dawson, W., Essl, F., Lenzner, B., Marx, H.E., Meyer, C., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., van Kleunen, M., Winter, M. & Weigelt, P. (2022): Phylogenetic composition of native island floras influences naturalized alien species richness. Ecography, e06227. pdf

Zizka, A., Onstein, R.E., Rozzi, R., Weigelt, P., Kreft, H., Steinbauer, M.J., Bruelheide, H. & Lens, F. (2022): The evolution of insular woodiness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, e2208629119. pdf

Zotz, G., Weigelt, P., Kessler, M., Kreft, H. & Taylor, A. (2021): EpiList 1.0: a global checklist of vascular epiphytes. Ecology 102, e03326. pdf

Yang, Q., Weigelt, P., Fristoe, T.S., Zhang, Z., Kreft, H., Stein, A., Seebens, H., Dawson, W., Essl, F., Konig, C., Lenzner, B., Pergl, J., Pouteau, R., Pysek, P., Winter, M., Ebel, A.L., Fuentes, N., Giehl, E.L.H., Kartesz, J., Krestov, P., Kukk, T., Nishino, M., Kupriyanov, A., Villasenor, J.L., Wieringa, J.J., Zeddam, A., Zykova, E. & van Kleunen, M. (2021): The global loss of floristic uniqueness. Nature Communications 12, 7290. pdf

König, C., Weigelt, P., Taylor, A., Stein, A., Dawson, W., Essl, F., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., van Kleunen, M., Winter, M., Chatelain, C., Wieringa, J.J., Krestov, P. & Kreft, H. (2021): Source pools and disharmony of the world's island floras. Ecography 44, 44-55. pdf

Schrader, J., König, C., Triantis, K.A., Trigas, P., Kreft, H. & Weigelt, P. (2020): Species–area relationships on small islands differ among plant growth forms. Global Ecology and Biogeography 29, 814-829. pdf

Weigelt, P., König, C. & Kreft, H. (2020): GIFT – A Global Inventory of Floras and Traits for macroecology and biogeography. Journal of Biogeography 47, 16-43. pdf - also see Interview on Mongabay

Sandel, B., Weigelt, P., Kreft, H., Keppel, G., van der Sande, M.T., Levin, S., Smith, S.,Craven, D. & Knight, T.M. (2020): Current climate, isolation and history drive global patterns of tree phylogenetic endemism. Global Ecology and Biogeography 29, 4-15. pdf

Taylor, A., Weigelt, P., König, C., Zotz, G. & Kreft, H. (2019): Island disharmony revisited using orchids as a model group. New Phytologist 223, 597-606. pdf

König, C., Weigelt, P., Schrader, J., Taylor, A., Kattge, J. & Kreft, H. (2019): Biodiversity data integration – The significance of data resolution and domain. PLOS Biology 17, e3000183. pdf

Razanajatovo, M., van Kleunen, M., Kreft, H., Dawson, W., Essl, F., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., Winter, M. & Weigelt, P. (2019): Autofertility and self-compatibility moderately benefit island colonization of plants. Global Ecology and Biogeography 28, 341-352. pdf

Delavaux, C.S., Weigelt, P., Dawson, W., Duchicela, J., Essl, F., van Kleunen, M., König, C., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., Stein, A., Winter, M., Schultz, P., Kreft, H. & Bever, J.D. (2019): Mycorrhizal fungi influence global plant biogeography. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3, 424-429. pdf

Moser, D., Lenzner, B., Weigelt, P., Dawson, W., Kreft, H., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., van Kleunen, M., Winter, M., Capinha, C., Cassey, P., Dullinger, S., Economo, E.P., García-Díaz, P., Guénard, B., Hofhansl, F., Mang, T., Seebens, H. & Essl, F. (2018): Remoteness promotes biological invasions on islands worldwide. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, 9270-9275. pdf - also see Mongabay

Dawson, W., Moser, D., van Kleunen, M., Kreft, H., Pergl, J., Pyšek, P., Weigelt, P., Winter, M., Lenzner, B., Blackburn, T.M., Dyer, E.E., Cassey, P., Scrivens, S.L., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B., Capinha, C., Seebens, H., García-Díaz, P., Nentwig, W., García-Berthou, E., Casal, C., Mandrak, N.E., Fuller, P., Meyer, C. & Essl, F. (2017): Global hotspots and correlates of alien species richness across taxonomic groups. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1, 0186. pdf - also see BBC News

Seebens, H., Blackburn, T.M., Dyer, E.E., Genovesi, P., Hulme, P.E., Jeschke, J.M., Pagad, S., Pyšek, P., Winter, M., Arianoutsou, M., Bacher, S., Blasius, B., Brundu, G., Capinha, C., Celesti-Grapow, L., Dawson, W., Dullinger, S., Fuentes, N., Jäger, H., Kartesz, J., Kenis, M., Kreft, H., Kühn, I., Lenzner, B., Liebhold, A., Mosena, A., Moser, D., Nishino, M., Pearman, D., Pergl, J., Rabitsch, W., Rojas-Sandoval, J., Roques, A., Rorke, S., Rossinelli, S., Roy, H.E., Scalera, R., Schindler, S., Stajerová, K., Tokarska-Guzik, B., van Kleunen, M., Walker, K., Weigelt, P., Yamanaka, T. & Essl, F. (2017): No saturation in the accumulation of alien species worldwide. Nature Communications 8, 14435. pdf (highlighted in Science and Nature)

König, C., Weigelt, P. & Kreft, H. (2017): Dissecting global turnover in vascular plants. Global Ecology and Biogeography 26, 228-242. pdf

Borregaard, M.K., Amorim, I.R., Borges, P.A.V., Cabral, J.S., Fernández-Palacios, J.M., Field, R., Heaney, L.R., Kreft, H., Matthews, T.J., Olesen, J.M., Price, J., Rigal, F., Steinbauer, M.J., Triantis, K.A., Valente, L., Weigelt, P. & Whittaker, R.J. (2017): Oceanic island biogeography through the lens of the General Dynamic Model: assessment and prospect. Biological Reviews 92, 830-853. pdf

Weigelt, P., Steinbauer, M.J., Cabral, J.S. & Kreft, H. (2016): Late Quaternary climate change shapes island biodiversity. Nature 532, 99-102. pdf (commentary by J.M. Fernández-Palacios)

Meyer, C., Weigelt, P. & Kreft, H. (2016): Multidimensional biases, gaps and uncertainties in global plant occurrence information. Ecology Letters 19, 992-1006. pdf

Barnes, A.D., Weigelt, P., Jochum, M., Ott, D., Hodapp, D., Haneda, N.F. & Brose, U. (2016): Species richness and biomass explain spatial turnover in ecosystem functioning across tropical and temperate ecosystems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0279 pdf

Weigelt, P. (2015): The macroecology of island floras. Frontiers of Biogeography 7, 119-125. pdf

Weigelt, P., Kissling, W.D., Kisel, Y., Fritz, S.A., Karger, D.N., Kessler, M., Lehtonen, S., Svenning, J.-C. & Kreft, H. (2015): Global patterns and drivers of phylogenetic structure in island floras. Scientific Reports 5, 12213. pdf

van Kleunen, M., Dawson, W., Essl, F., Pergl, J., Winter, M., Weber, E., Kreft, H., Weigelt, P., Kartesz, J., Nishino, M., Antonova, L.A., Barcelona, J.F., Cabezas, F.J., Cardenas, D., Cardenas-Toro, J., Castano, N., Chacon, E., Chatelain, C., Ebel, A.L., Figueiredo, E., Fuentes, N., Groom, Q.J., Henderson, L., Inderjit, Kupriyanov, A., Masciadri, S., Meerman, J., Morozova, O., Moser, D., Nickrent, D.L., Patzelt, A., Pelser, P.B., Baptiste, M.P., Poopath, M., Schulze, M., Seebens, H., Shu, W.S., Thomas, J., Velayos, M., Wieringa, J.J. & Pyšek, P. (2015): Global exchange and accumulation of non-native plants. Nature 525, 100-103. pdf (commentary by M. Rejmánek)

Cabral, J.*, Weigelt, P.*, Kissling, W.D. & Kreft, H. (2014): Biogeographic, climatic and spatial drivers differentially affect α, β and γ-diversities on oceanic archipelagos. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281, 20133246. pdf - also see Göttinger Tageblatt

Weigelt, P., Jetz, W., Kreft, H. (2013): Bioclimatic and physical characterization of the World′s islands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, 15307-15312. pdf - also see This week in PNAS | Spiegel Online | Die Welt | La Presse

Weigelt, P. & Kreft, H. (2013): Quantifying island isolation – insights from global patterns of insular plant species richness. Ecography 36, 417-429. pdf

Normann, F., Weigelt, P., Gehrig, C., Gradstein, S.R., Sipman, H.J.M., Obregon, A. & Bendix, J. (2010): Diversity and vertical distribution of epiphytic macrolichens in lowland rain forest and lowland cloud forest of French Guiana. Biological Indicators 10, 1111-1118. pdf