Ricarda Riina

Ricarda Riina
Postdoctoral Fellow

U-M affiliation
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

University of Michigan Herbarium

Contact information
University of Michigan
2035 Kraus Natural Science Building

830 N. University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
Phone: 734-936-3335

Fax: 734-763-0544
Email: riina@umich.edu

Field 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.

Mentor
Paul E. Berry

Euphorbia Planetary Biodiversity Inventory Project

Select publications

Riina, R. 2008. Croton (p.p.) - Euphorbiaceae. In: Nuevo Catalogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela (Hokche, O., P.E. Berry y O. Huber, eds.), pp. 367–369. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela, Caracas.

Riina, R., P.E. Berry and B.W. Van Ee.  Molecular phylogenetics of the dragon’s blood Croton section Cyclostigma (Euphorbiaceae), a polyphyletic assemblage unraveled. Systematic Botany (in press).

Van Ee, B.W., P.E. Berry, R. Riina and J.E. Gutierrez Amaro. 2008. Molecular Phylogenetics and Biogeography of the Caribbean-centered Croton subgenus Moacroton (Euphorbiaceae s.s.). Bot. Rev. 74:132-165.

Wiedenhoeft, A.C., R. Riina and P.E. Berry. Ray-intrusive” laticifers in the rays of species of Croton section Cyclostigma (Euphorbiaceae) may be non-articulated.  IAWA Journal (in press).

Caruzo, M.B.R., R. Riina, I. Cordeiro, and P.E. Berry. 2008. Croton campanulatus (Euphorbiaceae s.s.), a new species from the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest. Brittonia 60(3):261–264.

Duno, R., F.W. Stauffer, R. Riina, O. Huber, G. Aymard, O. Hokche, P.E. Berry and W. Meier. Vascular Plant Diversity and Endemism in Venezuela: Current State of Knowledge. Candollea (in press).

Riina, R., P.E. Berry and X. Cornejo. 2007. A new species of sangre de drago (Croton sect. Cyclostigma, Euphorbiaceae) from coastal Ecuador. Brittonia 59 (1):97–101.

Riina, R., R. Duno, G. Aymard, A. Fernández and O. Huber. 2007. Diversidad florística de los Llanos de Venezuela.: Catálogo de la Flora de los Llanos de Venezuela (R. Duno, G. Aymard y O. Huber, eds.), pp. 107–123. Fundación Polar-Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela, Caracas.

Berry, P.E. and R. Riina. 2007. A new collaborative research project: a global inventory of the spurges. Euphorbia World 3(1):12–13.

Huber , O., R. Duno, G. Aymard and R. Riina. 2006. Flora and vegetation of the Venezuelan Llanos: A Review. In: Neotropical savannas and dry forests: diversity, biogeography, and conservation (Pennington, R.T., G.P. Lewis, and J.A.  Ratter, eds.), pp. 95–120. The Systematics Association Special Volume Series 69. Taylor & Francis Group.

León, B., R. Riina and P.E. Berry. 2006. Euphorbiaceae endémicas del Perú. Revista Peruana de  Biología.  Número especial 13(2): 295–301.

Berry, P.E. and R. Riina. 2005. Insights into the diversity of the Pantepui flora and the biogeographic complexity of the Guayana Shield. Plant Diversity and Complexity Patterns: Local, Regional and Global Dimensions (I. Friis and H. Baslev, eds.). Biol. Skr. 55:145–167.

Berry, P.E., A. Hipp, K.J. Wurdack, B. Van Ee and R. Riina. 2005. Molecular phylogenetics of the giant genus Croton and tribe Crotoneae (euphorbiaceae sensu stricto) using ITS and trnL–F DNA sequence data. American Journal of Botany 92(9): 1520–1534.

Judziewicz, E.J. and R. Riina. 2005. Aulonemia dinirensis (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Bambuseae) a new dwarf Venezuelan species from the easternmost Andean páramos. Bamboo Science and Culture 19(1):11–15.