People
Cheek, Martin R.
| Job Title | Head, Wet Tropics Africa team |
|---|---|
| Department | Herbarium |
| Section | Regional Teams |
| Science Teams |
Rubiaceae Monocots I: General Alismatids & Lilioids Drylands: Africa Wet Tropics: Africa |
| Joined Kew | 1987 |
| Foreign Language(s) | French (African variety) |
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc (Hons), Univ. Reading, 1981
MSc, Univ. Reading, 1983
DPhil, Univ. Oxford, 1989.
Chair, cross-Departmental team for Wet Tropics Africa
Scientific and Horticultural Publications Committee (RBG Kew).
Role
Surveys & red-listing for conservation management in Wet Tropics Africa; revising/ describing taxa in Malvales, Nepenthaceae, African saprophytes, Rubiaceae etc.
Main research activity has been collaborative total vascular plant species surveys of areas of interest in the Wet Tropics of Africa, mainly Cameroon. These surveys have provided the data for conservation management, often in the form of ‘Conservation Checklists’, published as books which include Red data assessments. Revisionary and floristic work has concentrated on Malvales, especially the ‘Flora of Tropical East Africa’ account for Sterculiaceae (with L. Dorr, US) and an ongoing monograph of Cola. Other groups of African wet forest plants, where specialist assistance has been scarce or unavailable in preparing conservation checklist accounts, have also been studied. These have been mainly Rubiaceae (especially Psychotria), mycoheterotrophs (saprophytes), but also Sapindaceae, Rutaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Podostemaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Ancistrocladaceae, Scytopetalaceae and Vochysiaceae, for example. Activity in the systematics of carnivorous plant groups, such as Nepenthaceae, has continued, but with lower productivity than pre-2001.
Projects
Co-Evolution at the Plant-Animal Interface
Guinea-Conakry: Developing a National Herbarium and Survey of the Simandou Range
Interactive Key to African Plants
Liberia GIS: National Plant Conservation Prioritisation
Mefou Proposed National Park, Cameroon: A Conservation Checklist
Monograph of Octoknema (Olacaceae)
Poroid Fungi from Korup National Park, Cameroon
Publication of 2003 AETFAT Proceedings
Systematics and Evolution of Pandanales
The Plants of Bali Ngemba Forest Reserve, Cameroon: A Conservation Checklist
The Plants of Kupe, Mwanenguba and the Bakossi Mountains: A Conservation Checklist
Understanding and Conserving the Earth’s Biodiversity Hotspots (HOTSPOTS)
Selected Publications 2001-2005
Cheek, M. & Jebb, M. (2001). Nepenthaceae. Flora Malesiana 15: 1-161.
Litt, A. & Cheek, M. (2002). Korupodendron songweanum, a new genus of Vochysiaceae from West-central Africa. Brittonia 54(1): 13-17.
Cheek, M. & Csiba, L. (2002). A revision of the Psychotria chalconeura complex (Rubiaceae) in Guineo-Congolian Africa. Kew Bull. 57: 375-387.
Cheek, M. (2004). Kupeaeae, a new tribe of Triuridaceae from Africa. Kew Bull. 58: 939-949.
Cheek, M., Pollard, B. J., Darbyshire, I., Onana, J.-M. & C. Wild, C. (2004). The Plants of Kupe, Mwanenguba and the Bakossi Mts, Cameroon. A Conservation Checklist. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Pp 508.
Selected Publications pre-2001
Cheek, M. (1990). Systematic seed anatomy of the Turraeeae (Meliaceae): taxonomic and ecological aspects. Mitt. Inst. Allg. Bot. Hamburg 23b: 683-706.
Cheek, M. & Rakotozafy, A. (1991). The identity of Leroy's fifth subfamily of the Meliaceae, and a new combination in Commiphora (Burseraceae). Taxon 40: 231-237.
Cable, S. & Cheek, M. (1998). The Plants of Mount Cameroon. A Conservation Checklist. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Pp 279.
Cheek, M. & Williams, S. (2000). A Review of African Saprophytic Flowering Plants. In Timberlake & Kativu (eds) African Plants. Biodiversity, Taxonomy & Uses. Proc. 15th AETFAT Congress, Harare, Zimbabwe. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 39-49.
Cheek, M. (2000). A synoptic revision of Ancistrocladus (Ancistrocladaceae) in Africa, with a new species from western Cameroon. Kew Bull. 55: 871-882.