IAPT Council Election
BACKGROUND
The election of new officers and council members for the International Association for Plant Taxonomy is now under way. All individual members of IAPT are eligible to vote. Thank you for your interest in participating in this important election, which is held every six years. The new council members and officers will serve from July 2023 to 2029. Please find below biographies for all candidates as well as their vision for advancing IAPT during their term in office.
For the positions of President, Vice-President and Secretary-General, vote for one candidate only.
To assure geographic diversity among the ten council members you should vote for one candidate from each geographic area indicated on the ballot plus an additional five candidates from any geographic region (or regions).
Thank you for your support of IAPT.
CANDIDATES
Lúcia G. Lohmann
Brazil
I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of São Paulo (1995), an M.S. and a Conservation Certificate from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (1998), and a Ph.D. in “Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics” from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (2003). I have been a faculty at the University of São Paulo (USP, Brazil) since 2004 and currently serve as the Executive Director of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC; 2019-2023). I am a Research Associate at the Missouri Botanical Garden and The New York Botanical Garden, a member of the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo (ACIESP), a corresponding member of the Botanical Society of America (BSA), and an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAA&S). I have served as Associate Editor of various journals, including Taxon (2012–2015), the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden (2016–2018), Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2017–2021), Frontiers in Plant Sciences (2019–2021), Phyotaxa (2011-2021), and Phytokeys (2011–2021).
My primary research interest is to understand patterns of plant diversification, evolution, and biogeography in the Tropics. My research approach is highly integrative, combining components of classic taxonomy, phylogenetics, molecular biology, ecology, evolution, geology, biogeography, and conservation. A lot of my research focuses on the plant family Bignoniaceae, a key component of Tropical Forests. The comprehensive phylogenetic, morphological, distribution, fossil, and ecological datasets that we gathered during the past decades provided the basis for our ongoing work on the biogeography and diversification of this group. In turn, our exhaustive exploration of the Neotropical Bignoniaceae established the basis for cross-taxonomic and multi-disciplinary studies that combine similar datasets for other organisms and data from the Earth and Physical sciences to improve our understanding of the history of the Neotropical Biota, especially in the Amazon basin and the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.
Universidade de São Paulo
Biography
From an early age, I have been fascinated by the wealth and diversity of nature in the tropical rainforests of Brazil, where I was born. During the past 30 years, I have conducted extensive fieldwork throughout Latin America and research at major herbaria and museums around the World. The exposure to different cultures and realities has allowed me to gain a broad understanding of some of the main research/conservation priorities and education needs around the World. I have been a member of the IAPT for the past 20 years and have served on the IAPT Council between 2011–2017. As President of the IAPT, I would: (i) bring a multi-disciplinary perspective and stimulate truly innovative and integrative research in poorly explored dimensions of biodiversity; (ii) encourage the integration between plant taxonomy/systematics and society; and (iii) take advantage of my international experience to help promote partnerships between students and researchers from different Tropical and Temperate regions of the Globe. North-South collaborations are essential to successfully improve the botanical knowledge of the least-known regions of the world and are crucial for increased public awareness, education, and conservation.
Advancing IAPT
Carmen Ulloa Ulloa
USA
Carmen Ulloa Ulloa studied biology at the Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador, and received her Ph.D. from Aarhus University, Denmark. She is a Curator with the Missouri Botanical Garden where she has worked for the last three decades. Carmen conducts her research on plants of the high Andes, especially Berberis and Melastomataceae, in international collaborative projects and with colleagues at institutions in her native Ecuador. Most recently she coordinated the compilation of the list of vascular plants of the Americas. She is currently the main editor of the Flora Mesoamericana project.
She is an accomplished botanist, author of papers and books, and has discovered and described several species of plants new to science. Carmen teaches courses on Andean plants, botanical nomenclature, and scientific editing, and has guided undergraduate and graduate students. She is a member of Ecuador’s Academy of Sciences, IAPT, ASPT, IUCN Species Survival Commission, the Scientific Panel for the Amazon (SPA), and a National Geographic Explorer. In 2020 she received the Eugenio Espejo medal from the Quito City Council for contributions in biological sciences and this year a 2022 Distinguished fellow award from the International Biogeography Society. She was recently elected as Vice-president of the Academia de Ciencias del Ecuador (2022-2025). Carmen speaks fluently Spanish, English, and French.
Missouri Botanical Garden
Biography
If elected President of the IAPT I would promote the association to bridge, listen, include, and promote voices from across the globe, especially young professionals as they start their careers. I would like to explore new initiatives to add value to existing memberships, to promote member involvement and inclusion, and dedicate efforts to attract new ones, especially from regions poorly represented in the association. We need to strength partnerships with institutions around the globe to promote and disseminate the study of plants, fungi, and algae.
Advancing IAPT
President
Vote for one candidate.
Vice-President
Fabian Michelangeli
New York Botanical Garden
USA
Biography
I obtained my degree in Biology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and later a PhD in Botany from Cornell University. After postdocs at Cornell University and the American Museum of Natural History I became a Curator at the New York Botanical Garden in 2004. My research focuses in systematics, taxonomy, and evolution of tropical plants, mostly neotropical Melastomataceae, where I lead an international consortium to advance their taxonomy and phylogeny.
I have served other professional societies, including the Botanical Society of America (as chair of the Tropical Section) and the American Society of Plant Taxonomy (in the nominations committee, the finance committee and the awards committee).
Advancing IAPT
Professional Societies all face steady declines in membership numbers and publication income. In order to curb this trend we need to emphasize that the benefits of joining the society go beyond access to TAXON. Member-exclusive symposia, courses and grants should (all of which we already do) should play a larger role in the society. We also need to creative incentive to grow our membership beyond North America and Europe and become a truly global society.
Alfonso Susanna
Institut de Botànic Barcelona
Spain
Biography
I joined the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in 1987 and since then I have been part of the staff of the Botanic Institute of Barcelona, which I directed from 2005 to 2013. My main line of research is Systematics, focused especially on the thistles (Compositae). The thistles (tribe Cardueae) were an extremely conflicting group of 2500 species, and its systematics is now clear thanks to our work. Together with the late Vicki Funk, I was one of the founders and promoters of The International Compositae Alliance (TICA), a group of researchers that has revolutionized the classification of Compositae. In my latest projects I have also investigated biogeographical and speciation aspects. I have developed in collaboration studies in other families like Euphorbiaceae and Gramineae. I collaborate with scientists from many countries, and our late projects have involved large multidiciplinary and trans-national teams. I have carried out an intense activity as collector in Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. In addition to my contributions to systematics and biogeography, I have given new impetus to the Botanic Institute of Barcelona, making it a benchmark on systematics in Spain.
Advancing IAPT
Times change and modern systematic botany has little to do with that of just 30 years ago. Only by integrating the new molecular tools and classic descriptive disciplines can systematics survive as a recognized branch of science. The figure of the solitary, self-sufficient botanist may already be a thing of the past, because the increasing methodological complexity of modern molecular and bioinformatic methods is not for individual researchers: botanists have to learn to collaborate. The IAPT has to help this paradigm shift and become a meeting point that helps create the multidisciplinary teams that are required today.
Secretary-General
Mauricio Bonifacino
Universidad de la Republica
Uruguay
Biography
Mauricio Bonifacino is an associate professor at Universidad de la República in Montevideo at the schools of Agronomy and Natural Sciences. He obtained his PhD in 2003 at La Plata University in Argentina and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution. He specializes in the systematics of the flowering plant family Compositae, and has conducted fieldwork in Uruguay and along the Andes, especially in Argentina and Chile. His research interests span the systematics of Compositae, morphology, anatomy and floristics. He is also interested in the history of botany and is a strong advocate for the importance of collections.
Mauricio is currently working on the Flora of Uruguay project, and participates in research aimed at understanding the genetic underpinnings of the capitulum as a novel structure in Compositae, and the anatomy and morphology of the pappus across the family.
He teaches botany, plant biology and plant systematics in Uruguay, and also the OTS tropical plant systematics course in Costa Rica.
Mauricio is a member of The International Compositae Alliance (TICA) and is currently part of the global team of researchers aiming to produce the Global Compositae Database, a project started by the late Vicki Funk. He also collaborates with the editing and production of Capitulum, the new iteration of the Compositae Newsletter.
Advancing IAPT
Mauricio has been an active member of the council of IAPT since 2019, actively participating in the Grants Committee. Should he be elected as Secretary General he would seek to foster the involvement of developing and early-career botanists with an emphasis in those currently working in developing countries, where usually vast amounts of plant diversity remain to be described. He will also seek to find ways of connecting systematists across the world and offering tools to empower the new generation of plant taxonomists.
Sylvie Andriambololonera
Missouri Botanical Garden-Madagascar Research and Conservation Program
Madagascar
Biography
Sylvie Andriambololonera holds a doctorate degree in Biology and Ecology from the University of Antananarivo-Madagascar. She joined the Missouri Botanical Garden-Madagascar Research and Conservation Program in 1992. Beginning as Plant Data Manager within the Conspectus of Vascular Plants of Madagascar project, in charge of developing TROPICOS database from data on various ecosystems inventories ranging from terrestrial (littoral forest, rain and dry forests) to aquatic ecosystems (wetlands, rivers bodies etc), through compilation of plant label data, She has been aware of the biases on the flora inventory in Madagascar: the humid eastern part well collected than the western part, terrestrial flora well known than the flora of the wetlands. For more 20 years now, she has actively participated to the development of the Malagasy flora knowledge through the Madagascar Catalogue database (www.tropicos.org/Project/MADA). She is seeking opportunities for the uses of the compiled and verified data to inform the Conservation and Development related to the biodiversity. Two decades ago, she coordinated a three-year project entitled “Assessment of Priority Areas for Plant Conservation” that aimed to formulate biodiversity conservation strategies by identifying a) plant priority sites for conservation action and b) plant species of special conservation concern. As a Red List Authority Coordinator of the Madagascar Plant Specialist Group for the Species Survival Commission of IUCN, she is playing an important role in the rejuvenating the group action to fulfil its mandate. She coordinated many projects towards the Red List of the Endemic Plants of Madagascar as integrated projects to inform conservation planning.
She has coordinated many projects as parts of the non-profit Botanical Consulting Service provided by MBG that aim to strengthen the integration of plants issues into the country’s broader research and conservation initiatives. As a member of the steering committee for the development of Madagascar’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, Sylvie is trying to put the synergy between 16 targets of GSPC and the 20 objectives of Aichi.
As Head of Research Unit of MBG Madagascar program, she is promoting various research dealing with flora inventory and ecology, Ethnobotany and Plant Systematic. With her actual adjunct position as lecturer at Antananarivo University within the Systematics and Sustainable Development training program (SYGEDUR), she has supervised students for their Master degrees on Plant Biology and Ecology with focus on Systematics.
Advancing IAPT
I would like to serve on the Membership and Outreach Committee. Aware of all the impacts on Taxonomy in the world and the important place that this discipline holds in any sustainable development in relation to Biodiversity, I would like to contribute to the development of the expansion, redynamisation of this discipline which is currently considered in decline. For my country in particular, Madagascar reported on its impediments for Global Taxonomy Initiative but has not taken further action under this initiative to date. Today, almost all of Madagascar's plant diversity scientists have been trained at the University of Antananarivo, Department of Biology and Plant Ecology through the Systematics and Sustainable Development training program (SYGEDUR). We estimate that only 75 professional botanists are currently active and based in Madagascar. In an article I co-authored in 2021, we stated that “in species-rich areas with high levels of human impact, and where botanical knowledge is poor, inequality in the availability and accessibility of biodiversity data, professional expertise, and funding interact to produce chronic differences in knowledge between countries. Understanding these knowledge inequalities will strengthen our ability to improve the situation for people as well as for plants.” Therefore, I am confident that all my efforts will be directed towards reversing this situation, reducing these impediments.
J. Stephen Boatwright
University of the Western Cape
South Africa
Biography
J. Stephen Boatwright holds a Ph.D. from the University of Johannesburg and is currently an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology at the University of the Western Cape. Prof. Boatwright teaches systematics and nomenclature to undergraduate and postgraduate students, and is passionate about training the next generation of taxonomist in South Africa. While his research group focusses on several Angiosperm families, he is a specialist on the systematics of Fabaceae and Asphodelaceae. He has published in excess of 90 peer-reviewed papers, one academic book and four book chapters, and graduated 13 M.Sc. and six PhD. students. His research, and that of his students, has impacted the taxonomy of several plant groups, including descriptions of 4 new genera, 9 new sections/subsections, 28 new species and 320 new name combinations. He has an H-index of 18 and his research has been cited 2377 times. He currently serve on the Plant Checklist Committee for South Africa, as well as the International Legume Checklist Committee.
Advancing IAPT
I am passionate about taxonomy, and addressing the shortage of human capacity in this discipline especially in hyper-diverse countries like South Africa. Nomenclature especially has become a scarce skill that even many seasoned researchers have not mastered. I would therefore like to gain more experience by serving on the IAPT Nomenclature and Publication Committees. I feel that I can be most of service on these committees, and will also be able to learn a lot in the process. This includes gaining more experience in nomenclature as a whole, nomenclatural communications in Taxon and the processes that govern the maintenance of The Code. I would be able to impart new skills locally to peers and students, promote the importance of nomenclature and encourage others to also become more involved with the IAPT. I hope to bring my skills as a taxonomist and experienced journal editor to these committees, as well as insights from some of the plant groups I have worked on.
Itambo Malombe
East African Herbarium, National Museums of Kenya
Kenya
Biography
Itambo Malombe is a senior research scientist trained in plant systematics and biodiversity conservation with over 22 years of experience in tropical botany based at the East African herbarium (EA), Nairobi. He was among the local botanists involved in the review of the Flora of the Tropical East African. He has collected extensively, both vascular plants and bryophytes, in the various ecosystems in Kenya including the vast drylands, coastal forests, moist and montane habitats as well as the lowland rainforests. The field and herbarium botanical research have been through a successful joint research programme in collaboration with various institutions at national and international level including universities usually aimed at building the capacity of young biology scientists and local communities in understanding biodiversity for enhanced identification and documentation for informed conservation and socio-economic development. He has published over 41 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals as well as books, the recent being 'a guide of common plants in Nairobi City Park'. Malombe has been the Head of Department, including EA herbarium (2010-2018) and council member of the International Association of Bryologists (2011-2013). He has been part of grant evaluation for taxonomic research by the IAPT. He successfully organised and hosted the “Association for the Taxonomic Study of the Flora of Tropical Africa” international congress in May 2017 in Nairobi attracting over 350 scientists.
Advancing IAPT
To promote continued growth and success of the IAPT objectives in strengthening taxonomic research, he would like actively participate in the outlined committees especially in grant evaluation. He would also like to support in promoting stability of botanical nomenclature through involvement in the prerequisite reviews and discussions such as nomenclature proposals and publications.
Mijoro Rakotoarinivo
University of Antananarivo
Madagascar
Biography
I am Dr Mijoro Rakotoarinivo, taxonomist botanist and lecturer at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar. My main research interest focuses on the systematics, biogeography and conservation of palms in Madagascar. Based on this, I have learned and become very passionate about the taxonomy of native species of this plant family. Since 2007, I have contributed in the discovery, description and naming of more than 25 palm species in Madagascar. In addition, recent phylogenetic analyses of these palm taxa have delineated a new nomenclature for the group Dypsidinae (subfamily Arecoideae) whose results will be published shortly.
Plant systematics and botanical nomenclature are part of my work. I teach most of the courses on these subjects (nomenclature, systematics and evolution, biogeography) for the Master students of the Department of Plant Biology of the University of Antananarivo, while I constantly supervise students for their research on these topics of botany.
Advancing IAPT
My involvement as a member of the IAPT Nomenclature Committee would be beneficial to the taxonomy of flora of Madagascar, one of the richest in the world and eventually for the flora in different territories. I commit myself to following the correct application of the nomenclature Code in the taxonomic revisions, to discussing with the authors and to providing the most suitable reviews for any publications.
Council Members
Africa
ASIA & Australasia
Xue-Jun Ge
South China Botanical Garden
China
Biography
Dr. Ge is a professor at South China Botanical Garden (SCBG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He received his B.S. degree from Hebei University in 1985, M.S. degree from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology & Geography, CAS, in 1988, and Ph.D. degree from the University of Hongkong in 2001. He worked at Sun Yat-Sen University during 2005-2007 and then worked at SCBG from 2008. He visited Université Grenoble Alpes, France, in 2004, University of St. Andrews (UK) in 2011, and the University of Utah, in 2015.
Dr. Ge focuses on plant systematics and phylogeny. His works include 1) the taxonomic study on some genera, i.e., Taraxacum, Musa, and Pogostemon; 2) phylogeny and population genetics study on the Musaceae and some rare plant species; 3) DNA barcode selection and reference library construction for some Chinese regions. Dr. Ge has published more than 100 SCI papers in scientific journals (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xue-Jun-Ge). From 2015 to 2019, he was continuously selected as the Highly Cited Chinese Researcher (Elsevier). He was an editor of the “Journal of Systematics and Evolution”. His field trip covers most of China and the Andes in South America.
Advancing IAPT
During my field trip and cooperation with colleagues from developing countries, I fully understand the difficulty for young taxonomists to get research support. The grant from IAPT, as the start-up fund, could help young taxonomist continue their professional careers. For the senior taxonomist, the grant is sometimes valuable as water in the desert. I would like to participate in the Grants and Awards Committee.
I hope to encourage and push the cooperation of taxonomists between developing and developed countries. The young taxonomist from developing countries has the energy to have more field trips but is often limited by funds and experience. The senior taxonomist usually has more resources and expertise. Both sides could benefit from the cooperation.
Vinita Gowda
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
India
Biography
I am a botanist interested in the evolution of floral and reproductive traits, specifically among tropical plant families (Zingiberaceae, Gesneriaceae, Commelinaceae, and others). My research lab is called the Tropical Ecology and Evolution lab (TrEE lab, http://treelab.wixsite.com/tree) and we are based in the center of India at IISER Bhopal (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal). As the name of my institution suggests, I have now been involved in teaching and raising a plant-centric research team both at an undergrad as well as doctoral level in India for the past nine years. Needless to say, it has been an eye-opening experience as a mentor and a researcher who struggles every day to make administrators, policy makers, as well as fellow scientists and citizens become aware of the importance of plants and the lack of studies in the tropics that focus on their ecology and evolution. In the 10th year as a faculty and 25th year as a botanist my lab now actively participates in highlighting why it is important to study the plants that make up a forest before we study its animals. So far I have graduated 32 masters students, three doctoral students, and countless interns from my lab. My contributions to botany are my students, many of whom continue to work with plants and are passionate about conservation and ecology. I am not part of any IAPT committee but I have been very recently involved in as an evaluator for grants from the grants committee.
Advancing IAPT
My association with IAPT goes back to when I was a graduate student at the George Washington University, USA. The botany meetings were my first introduction to what botany meant on an international scale and it shocked me as to how advanced it was over what I had learnt for years in India. I believe that it is now my time to be a gateway for many Indian/Asian students as well as many global scientists to understand the constraints we have in countries like India towards the advancement of botanical knowledge and I hope that during my term I will be active in discussing it and resolving some of the obvious small bottlenecks. I am a strong supporter of diversity, affirmative action, as well as equitable sharing of work and I hope that by being part of IAPT I can bring these topics to the center stage of discussion so that our common botanical interest and shared botanical knowledge will help us collaborate and discover more about the life on Earth than compete.
Anna Monro
Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research/Australian National Herbarium
Australia
Biography
Originally trained in plant taxonomy and herbarium curation, my career path has led me increasingly into the areas of scientific editing, botanical nomenclature and data and information management. Happily I find these fields fascinating! Core parts of my current role include collaborative management of the Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) database and of the Australian Plant Census (APC), a project to build and maintain a nationally-accepted taxonomy for vascular plants. This requires strong links with the Australian and international systematic botany communities. My main interest is ensuring that the information that we manage is authoritative, defensible and accessible, with correct scientific names being fundamental.
I have been honoured to assist the Recorders at two previous Nomenclature Sections and to be a member of the Editorial Committee for the Shenzhen Code. Since 2016 I have worked as a Nomenclatural Editor for the journal Australian Systematic Botany. I’ve also been IAPT’s webmaster since 2019 and recently joined the General Committee to serve until the next International Botanic Congress.
Advancing IAPT
I am seeking election to the IAPT Council, where I would be willing to act in any capacity where I can improve the Association’s communication with and outreach to its members. I would like to contribute to IAPT's promotion of the importance of plant systematics to the rest of biology and am particularly interested in initiatives to reduce the “intimidation factor” of nomenclature, whether by training, mentorship, or via hard-copy or online publications.
Li Zhang
Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Shenzhen
China
Biography
I started my scientific career in 1990. I am currently Research Professor of Bryology and deputy director of Fairy Lake Botanical Garden in Shenzhen, China (SZBG). My research interests cover bryological taxonomy, inventory and public education. I have conducted in-depth research into bryophyte diversity in southern and southwestern China, and published bryophyte floras of Macao (2010), Guangdong (2013), Higher plants of China, Vol. 1. Bryophyta (2012) and Higher Plants of China in Colour, Vol. 1: Bryophytes (2016), and the first field guide of bryophytes in China (2016). My team also published several books for general public, including The Miniature Angels in the Plant Kingdom, an Introduction to Bryophytes and The Magic and Enchantment of Bryophytes which were favorably received widely.
I was the local organizer and one of the recorders of Nomenclature Section of the XIX International Botanical Congress (Shenzhen). I have been a member of IUCN SSC Bryophyte Specialist Group, and the Chair of the Bryological Committee, Botanical Society of China. I was granted the Riclef Grolle Award for Excellence in Bryodiversity Research by the International Association of Bryologists (IAB) in 2021.
Advancing IAPT
I believe that I can contribute to IAPT through my research and extensive experience, if elected, I can promote Chinese community to work closely with IAPT, especially to participate in IAPT, to organize symposia and conferences jointly and also foster collaborations among communities worldwide.
I’d like to be a member of either the Nomenclature Committee or the Membership and Outreach Committee.
Europe
Ali A. Dönmez
Hacettepe University
Turkey
Biography
Ali A. Dönmez is professor for plant taxonomy and molecular phylogeny at Hacettepe University in Türkiye. His research interests are; systematics, evolution, and phylogenomics of woody Rosaceae in the SW Asia and the adjacent regions.
He is currently serving for the Special committees for Virtual Participation in the Nomenclature Section and DNA Sequences as Types. Additionally, he translated the Codes, Vienna and Melbourne, into Turkish with his colleague.
His botanical bucket list includes discovering the megadiverse flora of Türkiye and the Caucasus region.
Advancing IAPT
I will do my best in the following IAPT committees:
1- Membership and Outreach Committee
2- IAPT Nomenclature Committee
Julia Gravendyck
Leibniz Universitäat Hannover
Germany
Biography
Julia Gravendyck is a palynologist and botanist at the Leibniz Universitäat Hannover, Germany. After preliminary training in law and a BA. in education she gained her MSc in 2016 at the Freie Universität Berlin (FU) in biology, specialising in biodiversity, ecology and evolution working on the environmental reconstruction based on palynology for a pilot project on carbon capture and storage. In 2021 Julia obtained her doctoral degree at the FU for her palynological work on the vegetation dynamics during the mass-extinction event preceding the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.
Julia is involved in projects on palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, vegetation dynamics and taxonomy in various Mesozoic pollen records of Europe. Julia focusses especially on the evolution of early angiosperms, employing the pollen record of the Lower Cretaceous and working closely with type collections to revise and update taxonomy used to evaluate the diversification of angiosperms.
Julia has a special interest for taxonomy and nomenclature and has worked on publications and proposals to amend the Code that help to disseminate knowledge of fossil-specific nomenclature and improve the application of the Code to palaeobotanical needs.
Advancing IAPT
My palaeobotanical perspective shows me every day, how important taxonomy, systematics, and nomenclature are for all subsequent applications. By working (1) on the grants committee I hope to support the crucial funding that IAPT provides for these subjects.
Unfortunately, nomenclature is often perceived as a dry subject. With a background in law and education I would like to contribute my analytical law perspective and creative side from education to process and communicate information on the (2) nomenclature committee to further nomenclatural needs of botany and paleobotany alike and to help communicate nomenclatural knowledge in a fun, accessible and approachable fashion.
Quentin Groom
Meise Botanical Garden
Belgium
Biography
I am head of biodiversity informatics at Meise Botanic Garden in Belgium. I specialise in biodiversity data science and digital workflows. I work towards a future where botanical data are shared and connected together so that these data are more useful for research, conservation and decision making. As secretary of Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) for four years I improved digital standards for biodiversity. As a member of the Botanic Garden digitization team and as a leader in several European projects on the digitisation of collections I facilitated access to millions of specimens and their linkage to scientific names, publications, people, molecular sequence and other kinds of data. An important theme in my research is that of alien invasive species, where I have led several projects, particularly creating digital workflows to generate actionable information for policy and management. I am a lead author on the IPBES Assessment on Invasive Species and am vice-chair of Alien-CSI, a networking project investigating how citizen science can be used to inform invasive species research. In my strictly taxonomic work I study the genus Oxalis, where I combine modern and traditional methods to gain insight into their evolution and biogeography.
Advancing IAPT
I feel I can contribute to any of the IAPT’s Committees that need advice on digital use of plant data and on the global infrastructures of biodiversity. I’m particularly interested in how digitization can support nomenclature and vice versa, but also how taxonomic publication can be improved through digitization and linking. Making taxonomic publications and nomenclatural acts more accessible, easier to find and easier to interpret.
Elvira Hörandl
Göttingen University
Germany
Biography
I am interested in the evolution of flowering plants, with a focus on polyploidy, hybridization, and asexual reproduction (apomixis). I want to understand how these evolutionary processes shape speciation, aiming at an evolutionary classification. I worked for many years on the model systems Salix (willows) and Ranunculus (buttercups). Current themes are:
(1) Species delimitation in apomictic polyploid complexes using phylogenomics, geometric morphometrics, and flow cytometry. The studies are based on previous phylogenetic and biogeographical analyses of Ranunculus.
(2) Analysis of species boundaries, hybrid zones and speciation processes in Salix utilizing population genomic studies and phylogeography, complemented by ecological data. Future work is also planned on sex chromosomes.
(3) Effects of light and cold stress on mode of reproduction of sexual and asexual plants, utilizing experimental approaches, flow cytometry, methylation-sensitive AFLPs, and gene expression analysis.
(4) Understanding genome evolution in apomictic plants by studying transcriptomes and loci under selection. Assembly of a reference genome for Ranunculus is under work.
(5) Developing evolutionary theory to resolve the paradox of sex in nature. I proposed the hypothesis that sex evolved as tool for DNA restoration and I try to link this also to speciation processes.
Advancing IAPT
My focus is the integration of modern molecular research with the classical disciplines of taxonomy and nomenclature.
As University professor I am much engaged in training of the next generation of systemics in the era of genomics but also to maintaining the knowledge on principles of classification.
As Director of the Herbarium (GOET) I would support initiatives for curation, digitization and scientific use of herbarium collections.
I served for many years in the editorial team of TAXON. I would like to continue my editorial activities and serve for the publication activities of IAPT.
Aelys Humphreys
Stockholms universitet
Sweden
Biography
Aelys Humphreys is Associate Professor at Stockholm University (Sweden) and Reader of Plant Systematics. She has a PhD in Plant Systematics from the University of Zurich (Switzerland), a Master's in Biosystematics from the Natural History Museum London and Imperial College London (UK) and a BSc with Plant Science Honour's from the University of Edinburgh (UK).
Aelys' research focusses on broad patterns of plant diversity, often at the interface between macroevolution and macroecology, but also integrates field and controlled climate experimentation and micro-scale studies. Her current focus is on evolution of plant thermal tolerances and plant extinction, and in using systematics research tools to address some of the biggest global challenges of our time, namely mitigating global biodiversity declines and forecasting responses to global change. Aelys works with different plant groups but has a particular fondness for grasses (Poaceae).
Aelys is Vice Chair of the Swedish Systematics Society (2022–2024) and has been a IAPT member and Associate Editor for Taxon since 2017. She would be honoured to serve on the IAPT council and carry on its important mission to facilitate, promote and support nomenclatural, systematics and taxonomic research.
Aelys is married and has two children.
Advancing IAPT
In her role as Vice Chair for the Swedish Systematics Society, Aelys is working to engage early career researchers and students, improve communication nationally (within the society) and increase visibility of the society internationally. As IAPT council member, Aelys would draw on these experiences to provide research and research travel opportunities for botanists of all backgrounds and all career stages. Aelys is also passionate about promoting the importance of plants and botanical knowledge to the broader community and society. Aelys would embrace the opportunity to work both nationally and globally to further this work. The IAPT Committees best suited to achieving this are Grants and Membership and Outreach.
Jiří Kvaček
National Museum Prague
Czech Republic
Biography
Jiří Kvaček is a palaeobotanist who has worked in the Czech republic and the United Kingdon. He has served as curator, head of science and head of hte Paleontology Department at the Nationl Museum in Prague. His research is focused on the palaeobotany of Mesozoic and Palaeozoic plants, nomenclature of fossil plants, palaeoecology, and palaeoclimatology. Results of his work have been presented in number of international conferences e.g. XVIII International Botanical Congress Vienna 2005, IOPC-X Salvador, Brasil 2016, XIX International Botanical Congress Shenzen, China 2017, 10th EPPC Dublin 2018, and most recently at the 11th EPPC Stockholm 2022. He was awarded a DSc for the thesis Diversity of Cretaceous plants based on anatomy of their reproductive structures in 2021.
He teaches palaeobotany and nomenclatures in the Charles University, Faculty of Science (Prague) and undertakes supervision of students undergrad and postrad students.
Advancing IAPT
I am already a member of the nomenclatural committee of fossil plants, where I would like to stay. I would like to develop further the idea of registration of plant names in the Registration Committee where I am also a member. I am further interested in work for Publications Committee to help with long-term plans for excellence, and marketing. Additionally, I am also interested to work in the Membership and Outreach Committee, if needed.
Tiina Särkinen
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
Scotland
Biography
Dr Tiina Särkinen is a biodiversity scientist at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland. Her work focuses on understanding what biomes are and how they have influenced the evolution of plant lineages. She uses herbarium collections to answer big science questions, with two main lines of research: taxonomy and evolution of the economically important plant family Solanaceae with focus on Solanum, and biome delimitation, mapping, and floristics. Her work combines molecular phylogenetics, species distribution modelling, spatial statistics, morphology, and traditional taxonomy. Her publications have established the first taxonomically verified checklist of the Amazon lowland rainforests, updated phylogenetic frameworks for Solanum and Solanaceae, island-like evolution in Andean plant lineages, and better ways of extracting DNA from herbarium material to unlock the treasure chests. Her passion is to see herbaria digitized, curated, and being used to answer large-scale science questions. Tiina is currently describing new genera of epiphytic Solanaceae (yes they do exist!), and building a global species-level multi-access key to Solanum.
Advancing IAPT
She would like to contribute to the Honours and Grants Committees in IAPT to diversify selection pool and applicants.
North America
Eve Emshwiller
University of Wisconsin
USA
Biography
Eve Emshwiller is an associate professor in the Botany Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Prior to joining the faculty at UW-Madison she was an adjunct curator at The Field Museum in Chicago. She is a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Crop Wild Relatives Specialist Group, and she has served the Society for Economic Botany as council member, president, local conference organizer, and member of the ethics committee and ad-hoc DEI committee.
Her research interests center on the ethnobotany, systematics, evolution, and conservation of crop plants and their wild relatives. She studies agrobiodiversity, especially the domestication of crops, their evolution under human influence, and their conservation biology. Current projects include research on the phylogenetics of the genus Oxalis, the origins of polyploidy and domestication of the Andean tuber crop “oca,” Oxalis tuberosa, the distribution of clones of oca in traditional Andean agriculture, and the distribution and conservation status of the species in the “Oxalis tuberosa alliance,” the clade of Oxalisto which oca belongs.
She has supervised graduate students’ research in various aspects of plant-human interactions, not only of Oxalis, but also wild-rice (Zizania spp.), feral wild mustard (Brassica rapa), and North American archeological domesticated Chenopodium.
Advancing IAPT
I would like to serve on (1) the Membership & Outreach Committee, or (2) the Publications Committee.
I am involved in various efforts and committees to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and a sense of belonging in my academic department and at several societies and organizations. I hope to be able to serve this cause in the IAPT as well, to help make sure that systematic botanists from all countries and continents will be welcome and that people of all identities feel that they belong in this society. As such, I am particularly interested in outreach to people outside of our society, in the hopes of interesting them in joining us.
Morgen Gostel
Botanical Research Institute of Texas
USA
Biography
Morgan Gostel is a Research Botanist at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT). Morgan’s background is in plant systematics and combines traditional taxonomy and phylogenomics to understand the diversification of large clades across heterogeneous landscapes. His taxonomic background is broad and includes what he calls the “botanical A, B, Cs” (Araliaceae, Burseraceae, and Compositae). Much of Morgan’s work has focused on advancing critical taxonomic needs in hyper diverse clades in Africa and Madagascar, such as Astropanaxand Neocussonia (formerly Schefflera, Araliaceae), Commiphora(Burseraceae), and the ironweed tribe, Vernonieae (Compositae). Morgan has been involved with leadership positions in professional societies after attending his first Botany conference in 2009 as a Masters student and has been involved with IAPT since attending the XVIII IBC as a Ph.D. student in 2011. He’s served on the BSA finance (2011–2014) and graduate student research award (2019–2022) committees, was student representative to the BSA board (2012-2014), and co-Chaired BSA’s Public Policy Committee (2014–2017). Morgan is also the Director of the Global Genome Initiative for Gardens (GGI-Gardens), an international partnership of botanic gardens dedicated to building capacity for research that utilizes living collections and encourages scientific voucher collection at gardens.
Advancing IAPT
I would be honored to serve on the IAPT Council and if elected I would be delighted to leverage my experience to advance the IAPT mission as a member of the Grants and Membership and Outreach Committees. As student representative to the BSA Board I successfully advocated for doubling the number of student grants awarded annually (2012) as well as launching the Public Policy (2012) and Botanical Advocacy and Service (2017) Awards. I have significant Membership and Outreach experience as well through my leadership of GGI-Gardens (a partnership of >40 gardens internationally) and first introduced the concept of the #IAmABotanist follower campaign while student representative in 2014.
Laura Lagomarsino
Louisiana State University
USA
Biography
Laura Lagomarsino is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Director of the Shirley C. Tucker Herbarium at Louisiana State University. Laura received a BS in Genetics and Plant Biology from University of California, Berkeley (2008) and a PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University (2015). Laura joined the faculty at LSU following an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology at the Missouri Botanical Garden and the University of Missouri-St. Louis (2015–2017). She is a broadly trained plant systematist whose research centers on the evolution of the Neotropical flora. Her interdisciplinary, herbarium-centered research spans alpha taxonomy, phylogenomics, macroevolution, and pollination ecology (read more here: http://www.lauralago.net/). Through this research, Laura has grown an international network of collaborators that spans the U.S. and multiple tropical American countries. In addition, Laura is an advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within botany: she is the current Diversity Coordinator for the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (2020-2023), whom she also represents in a cross-society NSF-funded collaboration, ROOT&SHOOT, to make plant sciences more inclusive.
Advancing IAPT
Within IAPT, Laura is most excited about bringing her DEI-centered perspective to a variety of society activities. This perspective would most benefit the Honours, Grants, and Membership & Outreach Committees. In any of these committees, Laura would advocate to make sure voices of IAPT members from underrepresented demographics— including gender, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability status, and country of residence— are heard and respected, and that society recognition is similarly bestowed upon botanists of all backgrounds.
South America
Domingos Cardoso
Universidade Federal de Bahia (also Jardim Bôtanico de Rio de Janeiro)
Brazil
Biography
I am a systematic botanist with a strong focus on Leguminosae and neotropical biomes. I graduated in 2012 at the State University at Feira de Santana (UEFS) in Brazil. My PhD thesis was the first and last ever in systematics to be awarded the national “Prêmio CAPES de Tese 2013” for the best PhD thesis in Biodiversity. My research involves taxonomic revisions, molecular phylogenetics and biogeography, for improving the classification and reconstructing the evolutionary history of the remarkably florally diverse legumes; and mining plant biodiversity data with R programming and extensive fieldwork in the Brazilian Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Caatinga dry forests for exploring a biologically meaningful view of biomes in evolutionary biogeography. I have published c. 100 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and advised six PhD students, and I am currently serving as Associate Editor for Edinburgh Journal of Botany, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Frontiers in Plant Science, Neodiversity and Taxon. Since 2014, I am an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) in Brazil, where I have been a CNPq fellow for High Scientific Productivity since 2016. I was also a former recipient of The Royal Society Newton Advanced Fellowships, and recently I was nominated Affiliated Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC). My passion and dedication to documenting plant biodiversity in the tropics have resulted in the new species Marcetia cardosoana (Melastomataceae) and Staelia domingosii (Rubiaceae) being described after me.
Advancing IAPT
Despite being a young systematist with expertise more deeply rooted in traditional taxonomy and nomenclature, my accumulated experience over the last 15 years, working on topics ranging from biodiversity and biogeography to phylogenomics, biome delimitation and floral evolution, would make me confident that I could serve on any of the following IAPT scientific committees: IAPT Nomenclature Committee, Publications Committee and/or Grants Committee.
Rocio Deanna
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
Argentina
Biography
Rocio Deanna is an assistant researcher of the Multidisciplinary Institute of Plant Biology (CONICET-UNC, Argentina), instructor of Botany at the National University of Cordoba (Argentina), and associate curator of herbarium CORD. She completed her PhD in Biology at the National University of Cordoba (2016), working on the systematics of a neotropical genus of Solanaceae, with a strong interest in phylogenetics, cytogenetics and taxonomy. She has done two postdocs at the Multidisciplinary Institute of Plant Biology and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her main research interests are in Solanaceae, from cytogenetics and phylogenetics to nomenclature and systematics. Her current main project involves paleobotany of the nightshades to estimate divergence times and understand its biogeographic history. She also organizes the Solanaceae Seminars Online to promote visualization, interaction, and collaboration among botanists, and lead the ARGplantWomen network to promote the work of women botanist from Argentina.
Advancing IAPT
IAPT Nomenclature Committee
Grants Committee
Membership and Outreach Committee
She will assist the Nomenclature Committee by dealing with nomenclatural proposals and she will participate in the selection process of the grants provided by IAPT. One of her proposals to advance IAPT aims is building a network across national botanical societies worldwide to promote IAPT membership, to increase the access to publication resources and to provide workshops on grant applications. I would be willing to coordinate this network of societies with the goal to diversify the plant taxonomy and systematists community through the IAPT.
Blanca León
Museo Nacional de Historia Natural Javier Prado, Universidad de San Marcos
Peru (also University of Texas at Austin, USA)
Biography
Botany as a science attracted my interest since I was a biology student. I became a member of IAPT as a venue to interact with the plant taxonomy community developing advances on systematics and nomenclature. I have a particular research interest on Neotropical ferns, and I have contributed to several treatments and floras. In addition, I directed the first conservation assessment of Peru’s endemic flora. My interests also include botanical history. I teach Plant Nomenclature and Pteridophyte Systematics to graduate and undergraduate students in Peru (UNMSM). Plant Nomenclature is part of my daily work for the USDA as a Plant Taxonomist Specialist for projects on Crop Wild Relatives and Economic plants. Finally, I also serve as an associate editor for two journals (PhytoKeys and Revista peruana de Biología). As a IAPT member, I have been a participant in the voting on proposals and changes to the Code, and also served as an author of a Nomenclature proposal. Recently, I had the privilege to serve as Member of the Special Committee for Virtual Nomenclature Section, Chaired by L. Landrum.
Advancing IAPT
I share IAPT’s vision and mission that emphasize the key role of plants systematics for a changing world affecting biodiversity and human societies. As a Council member I would focus my efforts on strengthening the IAPT community, recognizing the importance of diversity and inclusion, and using my experience as a botanist and member of the society.
Santiago Madriñán
Universidad de los Andes
Colombia
Biography
Santiago Madriñán obtained his PhD from Harvard University in systematic botany, and has been a full professor at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá since 1997. He is also the director of the Jardín Botánico de Cartagena in northern Colombia, which he has been instrumental in establishing and building. He is a corresponding member of the Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales de Colombia, and a Research Associate of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the New York Botanical Garden and the International Tropical Biology Center, Florida International University. His botanical fields of interest are Neotropical plant evolution, Páramos and Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests He has published 5 books, including “Nikolaus Joseph Jacquin’s American Plants: Botanical Expedition to the Caribbean (1754–1759) and the Publication of the Selectarum Stirpium Americanarum Historia” Brill, Leiden 2013” (recipient of the Staffleu Medal 2013) and “Flora Neotropica Monograph-Rhodostemonodaphne(Lauraceae)” New York Botanical Garden in 2004; 7 book chapters, and 56 scientific papers in: floristics, anatomy, morphology, systematics and evolution of neotropical plants; evolution on the biota of the Páramos; Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest conservation; systematics of the Lauraceae; DNA barcoding; ethnobotany and economic botany; history of botany.
The orchid Microchilus madrinanii Ormerod was named after a specimen collected by Madriñan in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
Advancing IAPT
Committees:
Grants Committee, Honours Committee, Nomenclature Committee, Membership & Outreach Committee, Publications Committee
As a plant taxonomist from a developing country holding the vast majority of biodiversity I will aim towards increasing participation of developing country scientists and institutions in the Association though enhancing their grant applications, consideration for Honour awards, involvement in nomenclature issues, promoting their membership and developing outreach strategies towards them, as well as supporting the publication process of their research.