Nic Lughadha, Eimear M.

Job Title

Senior Plant Diversity Scientist

Department

Herbarium, Library, Art & Archives

Section

Biodiversity, Information and Economic Botany

Science Teams:

Joined Kew:

1988

Foreign Language(s):

Portuguese, French, Spanish.

Qualifications & Appointments

 

BA (Mod.), Natural Sciences (Botany), Trinity College Dublin, 1987

PhD, Univ. St. Andrews, 1998

Member, Global Biodiversity Sub-Committee, Global Environmental Change Committee 2004-10

Member, Darwin Advisory Committee 2003-09

Member, Royal Society Working Group on Measuring Biodiversity 2002-2003

Specialist Advisor to Science and Technology Select Committee, House of Lords 2001-2002

Commission for Flora Neotropica 1998

 

Role

Research on plant diversity and systematics and development and direction of key projects of importance to HLAA, especially those promoting access, analysis and use of Kew’s plant diversity resources.

I have recently (April 2011) returned to a research role after a decade in a series of management roles with a science policy and co-ordination focus. My new role involves continuing work on documenting and interpreting large-scale patterns of plant diversity and their implications for conservation action complemented by a return to my early research focus on the neotropical Myrtales, especially the Myrciinae. I also have a long-standing interest and involvement in the development and maintenance of global authority files of plant names and species and in botanical nomenclature, dating from my involvement in the establishment of the International Plant Names Index and extending to the creation and ongoing development of The Plant List.

Projects

Selected Recent Publications

  • Paton, A., & Nic Lughadha, E. (2011). The irresistible target meets the unachievable objective: what have 8 years of GSPC implementation taught us about target setting and achievable objectives? Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 166: 250-260.

  • Rivers, M.C., Brummit, N.A., Nic Lughadha, E. & Meagher, T.R. (2011). Genetic variation in Delonix s.l. (Leguminosae) in Madagascar revealed by AFLPs: fragmentation, conservation status and taxonomy. Conservation Genetics 12: 1333-1344.

  • Rivers, M.C., Taylor, L., Brummit, N.A., Meagher, T.R., Roberts, D.L. & Nic Lughadha, E. (2011). How many herbarium specimens are needed to detect threatened species? Biological Conservation 144: 2541-2547.

  • Rivers, M.C., Bachman, S.P., Meagher, Nic Lughadha, E. & Brummit, N.A. (2010). Subpopulations, locations and fragmentation: applying IUCN red list criteria to herbarium specimen data. Biodiversity and Conservation 19: 2071-2085.

  • Murray-Smith, C., Brummit, N.A., Oliveira-Filho, A.T., Bachman, S., Moat, J., Nic Lughadha, E. & Lucas, E.J. (2009). Plant Diversity Hotspots in the Atlantic Coastal Forests of Brazil. Conservation Biology 23: 151-163.

  • Nic Lughadha, E. & Miller, C. (2009). Accelerating global access to plant diversity information. Trends in Plant Science 14: 622-628.

  • Paton, A.J., Brummit, N., Govaerts, R., Harman, K., Sinchcliffe, S., Allkin, B., & Nic Lughada, E. (2008). Towards Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation: a working list of all known plant species - progress and prospects. Taxon 57: 602-611.

  • Lucas, E.J., Harris, S.A., Mazine, F.F., Bellsham, E.M., Nic Lughada, E., Telford, A., Gasson P.E. et al. (2007). Suprageneric phylogenetics of Myrteae, the generically richest tribe in Myrtaceae (Myrtales). Taxon 56: 1105-1128.

  • Proenca, C.E., Nic Lughada, E.M., Lucas, E.J., & Woodgyer, E.M. (2006). Algrizea (Myrteae, Myrtaceae): A new genus from the highlands of Brazil. Systematic Botany 31: 320-326.

Selected Earlier Publications

  • Nic Lughadha, E., Baillie, J., Barthlott, W., Brummitt, N.A., Cheek, M.R., Farjon, A., Govaerts, R., Hardwick, K.A., Hilton-Taylor, C., Meagher, T.R., Moat, J., Mutke, J., Paton*, A.J., Pleasants, L.J., Savolainen, V., Schatz, G.E., Smith, P., Turner, I., Wyse-Jackson, P. & Crane, P.R. (2005). Measuring the fate of plant diversity: towards a foundation for future monitoring and opportunities for urgent action. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 360 (1454): 359-372.

  • Lucas, E.J., Belsham, S.R., Nic Lughadha, E.M., Orlovich, D.A., Sakuragui, C.M., Chase, M.W. & Wilson, P.G. (2005). Phylogenetic patterns in the fleshy-fruited Myrtaceae - preliminary molecular evidence. Plant Systematics and Evolution 251: 35-51.

  • Knapp, S., Lamas, G., Nic Lughadha, E. & Novarino, G. (2004). Stability or stasis in the names of organisms: the evolving codes of nomenclature. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 359: 611-622.

  • Nic Lughadha, E. (2004). Towards a working list of all known plant species. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 359: 681-687.

  • Brummitt, N.A. & Nic Lughadha, E. (2003). Biodiversity: where's hot and where's not. Conservation Biology 17 (5): 1442-1448.

  • Nic Lughadha, E. (1998). Preferential outcrossing in Gomidesia (Myrtaceae) is maintained by a post-zygotic mechanism. In Owens, S.J. & Rudall, P.J. (eds) Reproductive Biology in systematics, conservation and economic botany. 363–379

  • Nic Lughadha, E. & Proença, C. (1996). A survey of the reproductive biology of the Myrtoideae (Myrtaceae). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 83: 480–503.

  • Nic Lughadha, E. (1995). Myrtaceae. In Stannard, B.L. (ed.). Flora of the Pico das Almas, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 492-517.

Scientific Research & Data

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