Research Interest
My research develops plant & fungal diversity approaches to support communities in locations and economies where nutritional, income and biodiversity issues are of paramount importance. My projects focus on studying utilized, neglected and under-utilized plants, their main threats and conservation status, and their sustainable use, primarily in the Tropics. I am also interested in how climate change is affecting these plants and the related ecosystem services. I use an interdisciplinary approach, integrating biodiversity, economic botany, ethnobotany, systematics, macroevolution, biogeography, restoration, and conservation biology. Also, I have a strong track record in working on the flora of the Páramos and Andean ecosystems of South America, in aspects including taxonomy, molecular systematics, biogeography, climate change impact and plant uses. I specialize on the Asteraceae family, and in particular on the Espeletia group (a.k.a. frailejones).
My research develops plant & fungal diversity approaches to support communities in locations and economies where nutritional, income and biodiversity issues are of paramount importance. My projects focus on studying utilized, neglected and under-utilized plants, their main threats and conservation status, and their sustainable use, primarily in the Tropics. I am also interested in how climate change is affecting these plants and the related ecosystem services. I use an interdisciplinary approach, integrating biodiversity, economic botany, ethnobotany, systematics, macroevolution, biogeography, restoration, and conservation biology. Also, I have a strong track record in working on the flora of the Páramos and Andean ecosystems of South America, in aspects including taxonomy, molecular systematics, biogeography, climate change impact and plant uses. I specialize on the Asteraceae family, and in particular on the Espeletia group (a.k.a. frailejones).
Research projects
WorldwideWorld's Useful Plants & Fungi project
(click here) |
Latin AmericaMy projects in Mexico, Peru and along the Andes (click here)
|
Colombia |
Other previous projects
Origin and evolution of Ludwigia (Onagraceae)
PI: Janet C. Barber, Ph.D. and Peter Hoch, Ph.D.
The genus Ludwigia (Onagraceae) has a cosmopolitan distribution and comprises 82 species that grow in wet temperate and tropical environments. Ludwigia is morphologically, chromosomally and phylogenetically distinct within Onagraceae, and relationships within the genus are not known. The major objectives of this project are to reconstruct a phylogeny of Ludwigia using molecular (chloroplast and nuclear) datasets; test monophyly of the established sections to determine whether they are natural groups or simply geographic entities; elucidate patterns of chromosome evolution and pollen form; and determine the origin of the genus and, by inference, of the family itself.
Chromosomal evolution in Macaronesian Sideritis L. (Lamiaceae)
PI: Janet C. Barber, Ph.D.
This project proposes to use molecular cytogenetic methods to investigate chromosomal change in the Macaronesian species of the plant genus Sideritis (Lamiaceae). The group comprises 23 species of that are endemic to the archipelagoes of Madeira and the Canary Islands. Like their more familiar Pacific island counterparts, Macaronesian Sideritis are highly diverse, both morphologically and ecologically, and they bear little resemblance to their continental relatives. Chromosomally, however, this group is unique. Whereas most island plant groups show little or no diversity in chromosome number, nine different diploid numbers have been documented for Macaronesian Sideritis, establishing it as the most chromosomally diverse plant group known from island floras.
Flora of the Bojonawi Natural Reserve (Orinoco, Colombia)
I have been inventoried the flora of this reserve since 2003. The study area is located in the Orinoco Basin, 20 miles South from Puerto Carreño, in the Colombian side. It has rocky mountains pertained to the Guyana Shield, gallery forest, extensive savanas, palmettos and other typical ecosystems. The flora of the region is barely known, being this one of the few complete inventories. Raw data suggest the presence of more than 400 species of angiosperms, with 125 used species by the local indigenous and white communities.
Please contact me if you wish to know more about my current or previous researches.
Origin and evolution of Ludwigia (Onagraceae)
PI: Janet C. Barber, Ph.D. and Peter Hoch, Ph.D.
The genus Ludwigia (Onagraceae) has a cosmopolitan distribution and comprises 82 species that grow in wet temperate and tropical environments. Ludwigia is morphologically, chromosomally and phylogenetically distinct within Onagraceae, and relationships within the genus are not known. The major objectives of this project are to reconstruct a phylogeny of Ludwigia using molecular (chloroplast and nuclear) datasets; test monophyly of the established sections to determine whether they are natural groups or simply geographic entities; elucidate patterns of chromosome evolution and pollen form; and determine the origin of the genus and, by inference, of the family itself.
Chromosomal evolution in Macaronesian Sideritis L. (Lamiaceae)
PI: Janet C. Barber, Ph.D.
This project proposes to use molecular cytogenetic methods to investigate chromosomal change in the Macaronesian species of the plant genus Sideritis (Lamiaceae). The group comprises 23 species of that are endemic to the archipelagoes of Madeira and the Canary Islands. Like their more familiar Pacific island counterparts, Macaronesian Sideritis are highly diverse, both morphologically and ecologically, and they bear little resemblance to their continental relatives. Chromosomally, however, this group is unique. Whereas most island plant groups show little or no diversity in chromosome number, nine different diploid numbers have been documented for Macaronesian Sideritis, establishing it as the most chromosomally diverse plant group known from island floras.
Flora of the Bojonawi Natural Reserve (Orinoco, Colombia)
I have been inventoried the flora of this reserve since 2003. The study area is located in the Orinoco Basin, 20 miles South from Puerto Carreño, in the Colombian side. It has rocky mountains pertained to the Guyana Shield, gallery forest, extensive savanas, palmettos and other typical ecosystems. The flora of the region is barely known, being this one of the few complete inventories. Raw data suggest the presence of more than 400 species of angiosperms, with 125 used species by the local indigenous and white communities.
Please contact me if you wish to know more about my current or previous researches.