During this year’s late summer, B01 undertook the fourth field trip to the Atacama Desert, which at the same time completed the overall field campaign of phase 1. During these field trips Tim Böhnert, Agathe Kozok, Federico Luebert, Felix Merklinger, Dietmar Quandt and Alexandra Stoll finalized the sampling of eight transects along the coastal and Andean ranges of the northern Atacama Desert. These transects were located in the central and northern CRC core areas to assess floristic composition and vegetation turnovers at the dry limit. In order to understand the origin, the colonization and the diversification of the Atacama Desert flora, the genera Atriplex (Amaranthaceae), Cristaria (Malvaceae) and Cryptantha (Boraginaceae) were extensively sampled for downstream phylogenetic studies. Furthermore, to reconstruct the biogeography and to quantify gene flow and its directionality within broadly distributed species/species complexes, 2,195 individuals of four plant groups (Tillandsia landbeckii (Bromeliaceae), Huidobria fruticosa (Loasaceae), Ophryosporus spp. (Asteraceae), Eulychnia spp. (Cactaceae)), originating from 136 populations, were collected. In total, nearly 1,000 plant specimens were vouchered for identification and further floristic, phylogenetic and population genetic analyses.