WeDigBio Webinar: Spotlight on Herbarium Research—Epiphytes!

Dr. Matthew Pace is Assistant Curator of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium at NYBG. His research interests focus on orchids: their evolution, relationships, morphology, taxonomy, and biogeography. As Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded project “Digitizing ‘Endless Forms’: Facilitating Research on Imperiled Plants with Extreme Morphologies,” Matthew coordinates efforts between 17 US herbaria—and hundreds of citizen scientists around the world—to document botanical collections and aid researchers seeking to study and conserve plant biodiversity.

Dr. Alejandra Vasco studies the biology of ferns, encompassing their evolutionary history, systematics, taxonomy, and evolutionary development. Her main research interests are the taxonomy and systematics of the fern genus Elaphoglossum, and the development and evolution of leaves in ferns. Alejandra obtained her B.Sc. from the University of Antioquia, in her native Colombia, and her Ph.D. as part of the joint program between the City University of New York and The New York Botanical Garden. She is currently a researcher at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

Dr. Julián Aguirre-Santoro is a botanist and evolutionary biologist dedicated to studying the evolution and taxonomy of bromeliads. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the National University of Colombia and herbarium curator at the National Herbarium of the same country, where he leads several projects on bromeliad conservation, diversity, and evolution in Colombia. Dr. Aguirre-Santoro also conducted research at The New York Botanical Garden and the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), where he carried out botanical expeditions in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, the Greater Antilles, and northwestern South America, resulting in several publications on the taxonomy and evolution of the berry-fruited epiphytic bromeliads.