University of Michigan
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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Ricarda Riina

Ricarda Riina

Contact information

  • University of Michigan
    2035 Kraus Natural Science Building
    830 North University
    Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
  • Phone: (734) 936-3335
  • Fax: (734) 763-0544
  • Email: riina@umich.edu

Mentor

Paul E. Berry

Fields of study

Molecular plant systematics and evolution, taxonomy, biogeography, and floristics.

Research interests

I am interested in floristics, biogeography, conservation, taxonomy, and systematics of plant groups and floras of tropical regions and the Neotropics in particular. I use two approaches to understand tropical diversity and to answer questions about their biogeographic patterns, natural history, and evolutionary history. I work on the two largest genera of the family Euphorbiaceae (Croton and Euphorbia) and I investigate floristic and biogeographic patterns in several regions of South America (Guayana, Llanos, and Andes). I am also interested in the question of speciation and the role of hybridization and biogeography (including geographic/geological history and plant dispersal ability) on the diversification of specious plant lineages with highly conserved floral morphology, as appears to be the case of Croton and Euphorbia. My research on the genus Croton focuses on the molecular systematics, character evolution, and taxonomy of one medicinally important group (dragon’s blood trees) from the Neotropics. The work on Euphorbia is of broader impact because it entails the production of worldwide web-based monograph of the genus, an interactive and illustrated key for species identification, and phylogenetics studies in the broader sense and in particular groups within the genus.

Euphorbia Planetary Diversity Inventory Project

UM affiliation

  • Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • University Herbarium
  • College of Literature, Science, and the Arts