Fritz Hans Schweingruber After studying at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and pursuing postdoctoral research under Hal Fritts in Tucson, Arizona, he taught wood anatomy and dendrochronology at the University of Basel for 26 years. At the same time he was leader of the research group Tree Rings and Environment at the Swiss Federal Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape in Birmensdorf, where he set up the Northern Hemispheric Dendroclimatological Densitometric Network and published wood anatomical books for Europe, Russia and the Sahara. In 1986 he founded the International Dendroecological Field Week and in 2001 the International Dendroanatomical Weeks. Since retirement, he has focused on the anatomy of herbs and dwarf shrubs. Peter SteigerHas a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the Technische Hochschule Hannover. As an independent landscape architect with a strong interest in plant-ecology, he creates private and public gardens, mainly using native plants. He is the author of the book Wälder der Schweiz (4th edition 2010), on the Swiss forest communities. He is also a co-author of the Swiss National Forest-reserve Concept, the red list of Swiss forest communities and forest experts for the research-group Phytosuisse describing all the plant communities of Switzerland. His second book, Esche, Espe oder Erle? - Pflanzenportraits aller wildwachsenden Gehölze Mitteleuropas (2nd edition 2016) is a comprehensive encyclopedia of all native Central European trees and shrubs. Working also as a naturalist guide for British Greentours, he visits and illustrates plant biomes all over the world. Annett Börner Annett Börner studied geo-ecology at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, and has a special interest in plant ecology. She has been working in the field of scientific publishing and science communication for more than 15 years, and her clients include a number of major research institutes in Europe and Australia. Annett lives in Adelaide, Australia.