People
Savolainen, Vincent
| Job Title | Professor of Organismic Biology |
|---|---|
| Department | Jodrell (and Imperial College London) |
| Section | Keeper's Group |
| Science Teams |
Large-Scale Syntheses Drylands: Africa Monocots III: Orchids |
| Joined Kew | 1999 (Imperial College London - 2007) |
| Foreign Language(s) | French (mother tongue). |
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc, Univ. Geneva, 1989
MSc, Univ. Geneva, 1991
PhD, Univ. Geneva, 1995
Panel Evaluator, European Research Council (Starting Grants 2007-2013)
Chair, Royal Society Research Grants Board H (2008-2012)
Panel Member, NERC Peer Review College (2008-)
Panel Member, Leverhulme-Royal Society Africa Grants
Steering Committee Member, NERC Biomolecular Facilities
The Society of Systematic Biologists, Member
Links with Other Academic Bodies
Guest Editor, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society - Biological Sciences (2005)
Associate Editor, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2004-2006)
Associate Editor, Systematic Biology (2004-present)
Awards
Fellow of the Linnean Society (FLS), 2006
Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society, 2006
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Royal Society European Exchange Programme, 1995
Fellow of the Institute of Biology (FIBiol), 2009
ERC Advanced Grant, European Research Council, 2008
Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, 2009
Role
Evolution, Ecology, Conservation.
I combine field ecology, molecular phylogenetics, population genetics and genomic approaches to help explain the origin of biodiversity and, where possible, find solutions for its preservation in a rapidly changing world. Current areas of particular interest include: Global and regional patterns of biodiversity; Evolutionary radiations; Speciation genomics; Conservation genetics.
Projects
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group III
Co-Evolution at the Plant-Animal Interface
Complete Generic Phylogenetic Tree for all Seed Plants
Conservation and Monitoring of Meso-American Orchids
DNA Banking, Phylogeny and Conservation of the South African Flora
Establishing a Standard DNA Barcode for Land Plants
European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT)
Evolutionary Origin of Biodiversity Hotspots with a Mediterranean Climate (HOTMED)
Grass Evolution, Anti-Herbivory and Past Climate
Haemodoraceae - phylogenetics, biology and conservation
Molecular Phylogenetics of Palms
Phylogenetics and Conservation of Madagascan Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) PROJECT COMPLETED
Sympatric Speciation in Palms: Howea on Lord Howe Island
Systematics and Conservation Genetics of Asparagales
Systematics of Lamiaceae Subfamily Viticoideae
Systematics, Sustainable Use and Conservation of Tribe Ocimeae (Basil and Allies, Lamiaceae)
Understanding and Conserving the Earth’s Biodiversity Hotspots (HOTSPOTS) - COMPLETED
Selected Recent Publications
CBOL Plant Working Group. A DNA barcode for land plants. PNAS, in press.
Sauquet H., Weston P. H., Anderson C. J., Barker N. P., Cantrill D. L., Mast A. R., Savolainen V. 2009. Contrasted patterns of hyperdiversification in Mediterranean hotspots. PNAS 106: 221-225.
Lahaye R., van der Bank M., Bogarin D., Warner J., Pupulin F., Gigot G., Maurin O., Duthoit S., Barraclough T. G., Savolainen V. 2008. DNA barcoding the floras of Biodiversity hotspots. PNAS 105: 2923-2928
Christin P. A., Besnard G., Samaritani E., Duvall M. R., Hodkinson T. R., Savolainen V., Salamin N. Oligocene CO2 decine promoted C4 photosynthesis in grasses. 2008. Curr. Biol. 18: 37-43.
Forest F, Grenyer R., Rouget M., Davies T. J., Cowling R. M., Faith D. P., Balmford A., Manning J. C., Proches S., van der Bank M., Reeves G., Hedderson T. A. J., Savolainen V. 2007. Preserving the evolutionary potential of floras in biodiversity hotspots. Nature 445: 757-760.
Christin P.-A., Salamin N., Savolainen V., Duvall M. R., Besnard G. 2007. C4 photosynthesis evolved in grasses via parallel adaptive genetic changes. Curr. Biol. 17: 1241-1247.
Savolainen V., Anstett M.-C., Lexer C., Hutton I., Clarkson J. J., Norup M. V., Powell M. P., Springate D., Salamin N., Baker W. J. 2006. Sympatric speciation in palms on an oceanic island. Nature 441: 210-2133.
Selected Earlier Publications
Davies T. J., Barraclough T. G., Chase M. W., Soltis P. S., Soltis D. E., Savolainen V. 2004. Darwin's abominable mystery: insights from a supertree of the angiosperms. PNAS101: 1904-1909.
Soltis P. S., Soltis D. S., Savolainen V., Chase M. W., Crane P. R., Barraclough T. G. 2002. Rate heterogeneity among lineages of tracheophytes: integrating molecular and fossil data and evidence for molecular living fossils. PNAS 99: 4430-4435
Qiu Y.-L., Lee J., Bernasconi-Quadroni F., Soltis D. E., Soltis P. S., Zanis M., Chen Z., Savolainen V., Chase M. W. 1999. The earliest angiosperms: evidence from mitochondrial, plastid and nuclear genomes. Nature 402: 404-406
