People
Wilkin, Paul
| Job Title | Lilioid & Alismatid Monocots Team Leader |
|---|---|
| Department | Herbarium |
| Section | Monocot Systematics |
| Science Teams |
Wet Tropics: SE Asia Monocots I: General Alismatids & Lilioids Drylands: Africa Madagascar |
| Joined Kew | 1993 |
| Foreign Language(s) | functional French, basic Spanish. |
Qualifications & Appointments
BA, Natural Sciences, Cambridge, 1987
MSc, Pure & Applied Plant Taxonomy, Univ. Reading, 1988
PhD, Univ. Reading, 1993.
Member of Palynology Specialist Group, Linnaean Society
Council & Newsletter Editor, Systematics Association (2002-2005).
Role
Systematics, ethnobotany, sustainable use, economic botany and domestication of Dioscoreales, the yams and their allies
Main research focus is the systematics, ethnobotany, sustainable use and conservation of Dioscoreales, the yams and their allies. The importance of these plants as a starch source, especially in the seasonally dry tropics, has lead to an interest in the economic botany, domestication and human selection in the c. 70 species which provide edible tubers. In particular, making studies of the cultivated guinea yams (Dioscorea cayenensis complex) in SW Ethiopia and the many wild edible yams of Thailand and Madagascar. Comparative biology of Dioscoreales, including floral, pollen, seed, vegetative and underground organ morphology and its development have also been a feature of the research. This programme is underpinned by baseline surveys and inventories in Dioscoreaceae, especially in Madagascar and Thailand. These two relatively small countries both have about 10% of the world’s Dioscorea species. Management of the Lilioid & Alismatid monocot section of the Herbarium, and active in imaging and databasing Monocot herbarium holdings. Other monocot taxa being worked on or in which students are supervised include Dracaena, Erythronium and Cipureae (Iridaceae) of Bolivia. These areas of interest are likely to expand in future as Dioscoreales projects are completed.
Projects
Araceae Taxonomic Knowledge Base
Electronic Cataloguing and Imaging of Monocot Type Specimens
European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT)
Systematics and Conservation Genetics of Asparagales
Systematics and Conservation Genetics of Liliales
Systematics and Evolution of Pandanales
Selected Publications 2001-2005
Wilkin, P. (2001). Yams of South-Central Africa. Kew Bulletin 56(2): 361-404.
Caddick, L.R., Rudall, P.J., Wilkin, P., Hedderson, T.A.J. & Chase, M.W. (2002). Phylogenetics of Dioscoreales Based on Combined Analyses of Morphological and Molecular Data. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 138(2): 123-144.
Caddick, L.R., Wilkin, P., Rudall, P.J., Hedderson, T.A.J. & Chase, M.W. (2002). Yams reclassified: a recircumscription of Dioscoreaceae and Dioscoreales. Taxon 51 (1) 103-114.
Schols, P., Wilkin, P., Furness, C.A., Huysmans, S. & Smets, E. (2005). Pollen evolution in yams (Dioscorea, Dioscoreaceae). Systematic Botany 30 (4) 750–758.
Wilkin, P., Schols, P., Chase, M.W., Chayamarit, K., Furness, C.A., Huysmans, S., Rakotonasolo, F., Smets, E. & Thapyai, C. (2005). A plastid gene phylogeny of the yam genus, Dioscorea: roots, fruits and madagascar. Systematic Botany 30 (4):736–749.
Selected Publications pre-2001
Wilkin, P. (1999). A morphometric study of Dioscorea quartiniana A. Rich. (Dioscoreaceae). Kew Bulletin 54 (1): 1-18.
Wilkin, P. (1999). A revision of the compound-leaved yams (Dioscorea, Dioscoreaceae) of Africa. Kew Bulletin 54 (1): 19-39.
Caddick, L.R., Rudall, P.J. & Wilkin, P. (2000). Floral Morphology and Development in Dioscoreales. Feddes Repertorum 111 (3-4): 189-230.
Caddick, L.R., Rudall, P.J., Wilkin, P. & Chase, M.W. (2000). Yams and their allies: systematics of Dioscoreales. In Wilson, K. & Morrison, D.A. (eds) Monocots: Systematics and Evolution. CSIRO. 475-487.