The main interest of the working group is reproductive biology, evolution of reproductive systems and their consequences for speciation as well as biodiversity of vascular plants, fungi, and protists. The balance between sexual and asexual reproduction in these different groups of organisms is the subject of several research projects that combine field studies and classic morphological analyses with molecular methods like barcode sequences, AFLP, or SSR (microsatellites).
In addition, the group maintains the Herbarium GFW, with ca. 250 000 specimens the largest in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and curates collections and plant diversity data bases for one of the main regions of interest of the institute, Central Asia. A recently completed project regards the Vascular Plant flora of Mongolia (FloraGREIF).