People
Schrire, Brian D.
| Job Title | Legume Systematist |
|---|---|
| Department | Herbarium |
| Section | Dicot Systematics |
| Science Teams |
Leguminosae Drylands: Africa |
| Joined Kew | 1994 |
| Foreign Language(s) | Afrikaans |
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc (Hons), Univ. Witwatersrand, 1976
MSc, Univ. Durban-Westville, 1985
PhD, Univ. Natal, 1991.
Director, International Legume Database and Information Service (ILDIS).
Role
Systematics, phylogeny, biogeography, databases, utilisation and conservation of legumes and dryland southern African biodiversity.
Monographic research in tribe Indigofereae, including the 3rd largest legume genus Indigofera (720 spp.), with the aim of developing a robust molecular-morphological phylogeny (currently based on ITS sequences for 320 taxa, and for each species a morphological matrix of 80 characters, and an INDEL matrix of 28 characters) to explore questions of infra-generic taxonomy, biogeography, evolutionary biology, biosystematics and conservation. Global ‘Legumes of the World’ project with Phase one, the book, which has been recently published and Phase two, developing an electronic publication with online editing to maintain and update data. Biogeographical analysis of Leguminosae, focusing on clades largely endemic to the novel Succulent Biome, delimited recently. Floristics of dryland legumes in Africa (Indigofereae for the Floras of Southern Africa, Benin and Flora Zambesiaca). Development of ILDIS as a leading family-level species database.
Projects
Biogeography of the Leguminosae
Evolution of Tribe Poranthereae (Phyllanthaceae)
Importance of Legumes and Legume-Derived Compounds in Medicine and Agriculture
Isoflavonoids of the Leguminosae
Systematic Phytochemistry of Legumes
Systematic Study of Tribe Indigofereae (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae)
Selected Publications 2001-2005
Schrire, B.D., Lavin, M., Barker, N.P., Cortes-Burns, H., von Senger, I. & Kim, J.-H. (2003). Towards a phylogeny of Indigofera (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae): identification of major clades and relative ages. In Klitgaard, B.B. & Bruneau, A. (eds) Advances in Legume Systematics, part 10, Higher level systematics. Kew:Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 269–302.
Lavin, M., Schrire, B.D., Lewis, G.P., Pennington, R.T., Delgado-Salinas, A., Thulin, M., Hughes, C.E., Beyra Matos, A. & Wojciechowski., M.F. (2004). Metacommunity process rather than continental tectonic history better explains geographically structured phylogenies in legumes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B 359: 1509–1522.
Burgoyne, P.M., van Wyk, A.E., Anderson, J.M. & Schrire, B.D. (2005). Phanerozoic evolution of plants on the African plate. Journal of African Earth Sciences 43: 13–52.
Lewis, G., Schrire, B., Mackinder, B. & Lock, M. (eds) (2005). Legumes of the World. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 577 pp.
Schrire, B.D., Lavin, M. & Lewis, G.P. (2005). Global distribution patterns of the Leguminosae: insights from recent phylogenies. In Friis, I. & Balslev, H. (eds) Plant diversity and complexity patterns – local, regional and global dimensions. Biologiske Skrifter 55: 375–422.
Selected Publications pre-2001
Huxham, S.K., Schrire, B.D., Davis, S.D. & Prendergast, H.D.V. (1998). Dryland Legumes in Africa: Food for thought. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 85 pp.
Lister, R.K. & Schrire, B.D. (1999). Save the Rain Forest - It Saved our Skin. The Lancet 353: 848.
Barker, N.P., Schrire, B.D. & Kim, J.-H. (2000). Generic relationships in the tribe Indigofereae (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae) based on sequence data and morphology. In Herendeen, P.S. & Bruneau, A. (eds) Advances in Legume Systematics 9. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 311 – 337.
Bisby, F.A., Zarucchi, J.L., Roskov, Y.R., Schrire, B.D., Heald, J & White, R.J. (2000). ILDIS World Database of Legumes: draft checklist on CD. Reading: ILDIS, University of Reading.
Schrire, B.D. (2000). A synopsis of the genus Philenoptera (Leguminosae- Millettieae) from Africa and Madagascar. Kew Bulletin 55: 81–94.