VIELFALT IM WANDEL – EVOLUTION
BUNDESGARTENSCHAU KOBLENZ 2011

An exciting time travel through the evolutionary history of plants leads the way into the ZENDOME.30M for the visitors of the Federal Horticultural Show in Koblenz. This is part of the theme gardens “Diversity in Times of Change – Evolution”, which is being presented near the fortress Ehrenbreitstein. Within the dome itself, the infinite diversity of today´s flowering plants is on display.

“Biological diversity is not a constant variable. Earth’s history teaches us that new life forms develop and at the same time old ones become extinct. The long term circle of natural life knows no infinity.

Starting with the beginning of life on the planet earth, a time travel leads us through the important ‘inventions’ of life, ranging from bacteria able to undergo photosynthesis to green algae all the way to land plants – about 3.3 billion years after the first life forms came to be. About 480 million years ago, plants began conquering land with forms of life similar to todays liverwort.

The portrayal of such initial settlers of the Rhineland-Palatinate is the first step of the history of evolution of plants. All through earth’s history there have been times of great extinction. This always thoroughly changed the further development of the plant world. With the help of now most close relatives (“living fossils”) the visitors of the BUGA can learn everything about the change.” (Federal Horticultural Show Koblenz 2011)