People
Kirkup, Donald W. [Don]
| Job Title | Identification Systems and Morphometrics specialist |
|---|---|
| Department | Herbarium |
| Section | Dicot Systematics |
| Science Teams |
Wet Tropics: SE Asia Malpighiales Drylands: Africa Wet Tropics: Africa |
| Joined Kew | 1990 |
| Foreign Language(s) | French (basic). |
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc (Hons), Botany and Geography, Univ. Hull, 1980
MSc, Pure and Applied Plant Taxonomy, Univ. Reading, 1983
PhD, Univ. Reading, 1993.
Editorial Board, Flora Malesiana
Scientific and Horticultural Books Advisory Committee (Kew)
Scientific Databases Committee (Kew)
Herbarium Computing Group (Kew)
GIS Committee (Kew).
Role
Morphometric methods and analysis, morphological databases, interactive keys, electronic floras, floristic analysis.
Current research projects include comparison of geometric morphometric methods (e.g. outline methods such as Fourier analysis and those based on landmark coordinates) and their application in herbarium studies, e.g. leaf-shape variation and species delimitation in Ochna, morphological and genetic variation in Populus and in Brazilian Araceae. Geographical analysis of databases for African mistletoes and their pollinators is aimed at exploring the utility of such linked specimen datasets for co-evolutionary studies and conservation assessment and is synergistic with activities in the GIS unit. A morphological database (DELTA) of genera of Ochnaceae is being compiled for identification and systematic analysis and assistance given to the Euphorbiaceae s.l. and Salicaceae s.l. projects, under the collaborative Genera of Malpighiales project. Other support currently includes supervision of construction of a DELTA database to Old World Salix species. Recent projects designed and managed include the Interactive Key to Malesian Seed Plants: A new project in the planning stage is an interactive key to the plants of Africa. The unit has developed a method for digitizing, marking-up and databasing 'legacy' texts such as Floras, examples of which have been made available on Kew's "eFloras" website or delivered to the Aluka project: so far including ‘Flora Zambesiaca online’, ‘The Flora of Tropical West Africa’ and the ‘Useful Plants of Tropical West Africa’. Collaborative projects (e.g. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh) seek to find new uses for and to analyse the floristic data captured by using novel approaches such as functional group analysis.
Projects
Interactive Key to African Plants
Interactive Key to Neotropical Flowering Plant Families
Interactive Key to the Genera of Lamiaceae
Interactive Key to the Genera of Malpighiales
Interactive Key to the Malesian Seed Plants
Morphometrics and Phylogeography of Anthurium and Monstera (Araceae) in NE Brazil
UK Darwin Initiative Papuan Plant Diversity
World Classification and Phylogeny of Salicaceae sensu stricto
Selected Publications 2001-2005
Evans, T. & Kirkup, D. (2001). An interactive key to the rattans of Lao PDR. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Oxford Forestry Institute, Oxford. CD ROM and web [http://www.kew.org/data/rattanslao]
Kirkup, D., Malcolm, P., Christian, G. & Paton, A. (2004 onwards). eFloras - Flora Zambesiaca online. [http://www.kew.org/efloras]
Kirkup, D. in The Malesian Key Group (2004). An Interactive Key to Malesian Seed Plants v. 1.0. The Nationaal Herbarium Nederland Leiden and The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. CD ROM and web [http://www.kew.org/herbarium/keys/fm]
Kirkup, D., Malcolm, P., Christian, G. & Paton, A. (2005). Towards a digital African Flora. Taxon 54: 457-466
Selected Publications pre-2001
Coode, M.J.E., Dransfield, J., Forman, L.L., Kirkup, D.W. & Said, I.M. (eds) (1996). A checklist of the flowering plants and gymnosperms of Brunei Darussalam. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources Brunei Darussalam. [http://www.kew.org/data/brunpubs.html]
Kirkup, D. (1998). Pollination Mechanisms in African Loranthaceae. In Polhill, R. & Wiens, D. (eds) Mistletoes of Africa. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. 37-60.
Kirkup, D., Dransfield, J. & Sanderson, H. (1999). The rattans of Brunei Darussalam - An interactive key on CD ROM. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources Brunei Darussalam.
Kirkup, D.W., Polhill, R.M. & Wiens, D. (2000). Viscum in the context of its family, Viscaceae, and its diversity in Africa. In Bussing, A. (ed) Mistletoe - the genus Viscum. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants - Industrial Profiles. Harwood Academic Publishers. 7-29.