Tropical Diversity

Plant species diversity is massively biased towards the tropics, for example the rainforests of Amazonia are thought to contain around 7,000 native tree species - more than 100 times the number in the UK. In addition, the value of tropical dry forests, grasslands and savannas is often under-appreciated in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

RBGE's Tropical team focuses on describing this mega-diversity, researching its evolution and drivers, and determining how best to conserve it.

Researchers

Dr Caroline Lehmann, Head of Tropical Diversity

Dr Hannah Atkins

Dr Mark Hughes

Dr Catherine Kidner

Dr Michael Moller

Professor Toby Pennington

Dr Louis Ronse de Craene

Dr Tiina Sarkinen

Dr Peter Wilkie

Postdoctoral research fellows

Dr Leanne Phelps

Dr Rowan Schley

Research assistants

Jakub Wieczorkowski

PhD and Masters students

Anya Courtenay Masters

Susan Eshelman PhD

Cynthia Fan PhD

Elliot Fisher PhD

Kelly Gonzalez PhD

Ramos Gustavo PhD

Briggitthe Melchor Castro PhD

Thibauld Michel PhD

Charlie  Miller PhD

Aireen Phang PhD

Jess Rickenback PhD

Madhavi Sreenath PhD

Lizzie Telford PhD

Lucy Turnbull PhD

Junru Wang PhD

Research associates based at RBGE

Dr Zoe Goodwin

Rebecca Hilgenhof

Dr Peter Moonlight

Dr Kanae Nishii

Dr Axel Poulsen