Dr Isabel Larridon

My role as a researcher in the Identification and Naming department’s Africa and Madagascar team is to investigate the evolution, biodiversity and conservation status of African and Madagascan plants. I am currently involved in several research projects focusing on the Cyperaceae or sedge family. Current research is aimed building a framework to investigate evolution in Cyperaceae using targeted sequencing data obtained using the Angiosperm-353 baits developed for Kew’s Plant and Fungal Trees of Life project. One of the characters studied in the family is C4 photosynthesis.

Other projects focus on investigating:

1. the historical biogeography and niche evolution of the genus Scleria,
2. the origins and diversification of Cyperaceae in Madagascar,
3. the generic limits and relationships in the Cyperaceae tribes Abildgaardieae and Schoeneae.

I am also engaged in Kew’s Tropical Important Plant Areas project, particularly in Guinea. Besides African and Madagascan flora, further research interests include Cactaceae and Neotropical Magnoliaceae.

• BSc (Great distinction), Ghent University (Belgium), 2004
• MSc (Great distinction), Ghent University (Belgium), 2006
• PhD, Ghent University (Belgium), 2011
• B.A. Krukoff Curator of African Botany
• ​Visiting Professor, Ghent University (Belgium)

• Member IUCN-SSC Freshwater Plant Specialist Group
• Associate editor, Kew Bulletin
• Associate editor, Plant Ecology and Evolution
• Academic editor, PeerJ