People

Rico Arce, María de Lourdes  [Lulu]

Job Title Neotropical Legume Specialist
Department Herbarium
Section Dicot Systematics
Science Teams Drylands: Tropical America
Leguminosae
Joined Kew 1991
Foreign Language(s) Spanish (mother tongue), Portuguese, French

Qualifications & Appointments

BSc, UNAM, Mexico, 1980

PhD, Univ. Southampton, 1989.

Hon. Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, Birmingham Univ.

Assistant Editor, Mexican Floras and Annales Jardin Botanico, Madrid.

Role

Systematics of neotropical Mimosoideae, especially tribe Ingeae and Acacia.

Researcher and lecturer with 30 years’ experience in Neotropical Leguminosae-Mimosoideae. Specialist in large pantropical genera of tribes Acacieae and Ingeae; provision of fundamental support to Millennium Seed Bank (plant verification of drylands taxa). Broad multidisciplinary collaboration with Latin American countries: lecturing, cladistics, writing floras and checklists and organising programmes for data repatriation. Capacity-building through training programmes of postgraduate students in UK and Mexico.

Projects

Kew Latin America Research Fellowships

Mimosoid Pollen in Madagascar

Plant Diversity and Conservation in Bolivia

Pollen Evolution

Systematics of Neotropical Acacia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae)

Selected Publications 2001-2005

Rico Arce, M. de L. (2001). Fabaceae. In Beaman, J.H., Anderson, C. & Beaman, R.S. (eds) The plants of Mount Kinabalu, 4. Dicotyledon families Acanthaceae to Lythraceae. Kinabalu: Natural History Publications (Borneo) in association with The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. xiv, 316-432.

Rico Arce, M. de L. (2001). Mimosaceae. In Stevens, W.D., Ulloa Ulloa, C., Pool, A. & Montiel, O.M. (eds) Flora de Nicaragua. St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press. (Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 85). 1446-1507.

Rico Arce, M. de L. (2003). Geographical patterns in neotropical Acacia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae). Australian Journal of Botany 16:41-48.

Rosales, J., Maxted, N., Rico-Arce,M. de L. & Petts, G.. (2003). Ecohydrological and ecohydrographical methodology applied to conservation of riparian vegetation: the Caura River as an example. In Chernoff, B., Machado-Allison, A., Riseng, K.J. & Montambault, J.R. (eds) A Biological Assessment of the aquatic Ecosystems of the Caura River Basin, Bolivar State, Venezuela. Bulletin of Biological Assessment No. 28. Washington, D.C: Conservation International. 75-85 & 172-183 (Spanish).

Rico Arce, M. de L. & Fonseca, R.M. (2005). Acacieae (Mimosaceae). Flora de Guerrero No. 25. 1-56. Coordinación de Servicios Editoriales. Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM. México.

Selected Publications pre-2001

Rico Arce, M. de L. (1992). New chromosome counts in neotropical Albizia, Havardia and Pithecellobium and a new combination of Albizia (Leguminosae-Mimosoideae-Ingeae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 108: 269-274.

Rico Arce, M. de L. (1994) Four new species of Zygia (Leguminosae-Mimosoideae). Kew Bulletin 49(3): 547-554.

Rico Arce, M. de L. (with C.S. Evans et al.) (1996). Evolutionary trends within the genus Acacia based on the accumulation of non-protein amino acids in seeds. In Sprent, J.I. & McKey, D. (eds) Advances in Legume Systematics 5: The Nitrogen Factor. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 83-87.

Banks, H. & Rico Arce, M. de L. (1999). Pollen morphology and phylogenetic analysis of Eperua Aublet (Deatrieae: Caesalpinioideae: Leguminosae) Grana 38: 261-276.

Rico Arce, M. de L., Sousa S. M. & Fuentes S.S. (1999). Guinetia a new genus in the tribe Ingeae from Mexico. Kew Bulletin 54 (4): 975-981.