Mauricio Diazgranados
Chief Science Officer and Dean of Science
Ph.D., St. Louis University - Missouri Botanical Garden
Specialty
Biodiversity, Biogeography, Conservation, Nature-based Solutions, Taxonomy, and Systematics
Expertise
Flora of Colombia, páramos, Asteraceae (Heliantheae), useful plants.
Research locations
Colombia, Latin America, worldwide
Profile
Mauricio Diazgranados leads the strategic positioning and planning for Science at NYBG. He directs and oversees the activities of the various components of the International Plant Science Center (IPSC), including: the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium; the Institute of Economic Botany; the Institute of Systematic Botany; the Cullman Program on Molecular Systematics; the Genomics and Laboratory Research program; the Graduate Studies program; and the LuEsther T. Mertz Library.
In his previous position (2016–2023), Mauricio was Research Leader at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (London, UK), and led Kew’s Nature-based Solutions Initiative, aiming to provide solutions to address environmental and societal challenges (such as climate change, poverty, food security, health, and biodiversity loss) for the benefit of both society and nature. Mauricio managed the Kew-Colombia Bio programme (2016-2023), which aimed to support the sustainable development of Colombia’s biodiversity resources, involving a robust scientific program in partnership with various local organizations, carrying out 16 projects ($9M), including creating online portals (http://colplanta.org/; http://colfungi.org/) with information for all the species of plants and fungi known to Colombia. Before, he had served as Director for Science at the Bogotá Botanical Garden (Colombia; https://jbb.gov.co/), where he led a group of 84 researchers and 135 technicians and gardeners, carrying out 73 research projects with an annual operating budget for research of $4M. Mauricio was responsible for the strategic development and maintenance of science buildings, including the laboratory facilities, the gardens greenhouses (for research and visitors), and the herbarium. During his direction, they planned, funded and led the construction of the new Tropicarium ($20M), considered the largest greenhouse in South America, and the new Herbarium (JBB; $2.5M).
Mauricio’s research develops plant & fungal diversity approaches to support communities in locations and economies where nutritional, income and biodiversity issues are of paramount importance. His projects focus on studying utilized, neglected and under-utilized plants, their main threats and conservation status, and their sustainable use, primarily in the Tropics. He is also interested in how climate change is affecting these plants and the related ecosystem services. Mauricio uses an interdisciplinary approach, integrating biodiversity, economic botany, ethnobotany, systematics, macroevolution, biogeography, restoration, and conservation biology. Also, he has a strong track record in working on the flora of the Páramos and Andean ecosystems of South America, in aspects including taxonomy, molecular systematics, biogeography, climate change impact and plant uses. Mauricio specializes in the Asteraceae family, and in particular in the Espeletia group (a.k.a. frailejones).
Selected Publications
Kor, L., Diazgranados, M., 2023. Identifying important plant areas for useful plant species in Colombia. Biological Conservation, 284, p.110187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110187
Liu, U., Gianella, M., Dávila Aranda, P., Diazgranados, M., Flores Ortíz, C. M., Lira-Saade, R., Bacci, S., Mattana, E., Milliken, W., Mitrovits, O., Pritchard, H. W., Rodríguez-Arévalo, I., Way, M., Williams, C. & Ulian, T. 2023. Conserving useful plants for a sustainable future: species coverage, spatial distribution, and conservation status within the Millennium Seed Bank collection. Biodivers Conserv 32, 2791–2839. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02631-w
Negrão, R., Monro, A.K., Castellanos-Castro, C., Diazgranados, M.* (Eds.). 2022. Catalogue of Useful Plants of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, 1,056 p. ISBN 978-1-84246-774-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-775-6.
De Almeida R.F, Lücking R., Vasco-Palacios A., Gaya E., Diazgranados M.* (Eds.) 2022. Catalogue of Fungi of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, 514 p. ISBN 978-1-84246-790-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-791-6.
Diazgranados M.*, Hammond D., Rojas T., White K., Mira M., Castellanos-Castro C., Gutiérrez C., Ulian T. 2022. The Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia (UPFC) project: delivering botanical knowledge to support conservation and sustainable development. In: Negrão, R., Monro, A.K., Castellanos-Castro, C., Diazgranados, M. (Eds.). Catalogue of Useful Plants of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, pp. 21–34. ISBN 978-1-84246-774-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-775-6.
Kor L., Lopez-Gallego C., Castellanos-Castro C., Diazgranados M.* 2022. Assessing extinction risk coverage and identifying geographical hotspots to guide conservation action for Colombia’s useful plants. In: Negrão, R., Monro, A.K., Castellanos-Castro, C., Diazgranados, M. (Eds.). Catalogue of Useful Plants of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, pp. 35–47. ISBN 978-1-84246-774-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-775-6.
Gori B., Ulian T., Bernal H., Diazgranados M.* 2022. The hidden food basket of Latin America: an overview of Colombian edible plant diversity and its distribution. In: Negrão, R., Monro, A.K., Castellanos-Castro, C., Diazgranados, M. (Eds.). Catalogue of Useful Plants of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, pp. 63–77. ISBN 978-1-84246-774-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-775-6.
Rojas M.T., Ulian T., Cortés C.A., Torres-Morales G., Hammond D., García F., Diazgranados M.* 2022. Sustainable value chains and development pathways for natural ingredients in Colombia: the case of naidí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.). In: Negrão, R., Monro, A.K., Castellanos-Castro, C., Diazgranados, M. (Eds.), Catalogue of Useful Plants of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, pp. 121–133. ISBN 978-1-84246-774-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-775-6.
Diazgranados M.* 2022. A taxonomic summary of useful plants in Colombia. In: Negrão, R., Monro, A.K., Castellanos-Castro, C., Diazgranados, M. (Eds.). Catalogue of Useful Plants of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, pp. 135–147. ISBN 978-1-84246-774-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-775-6.
Diazgranados M.*, Kor L. 2022. Notes on the geographic distribution of the useful plants of Colombia. In: Negrão, R., Monro, A.K., Castellanos-Castro, C., Diazgranados, M. (Eds.). Catalogue of Useful Plants of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, pp. 149–163. ISBN 978-1-84246-774-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-775-6.
Diazgranados M.*, Hammond D., Rojas T., White K., Mira M., Castellanos-Castro C., Gutiérrez C., Ulian T. 2022. The Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia (UPFC) project: delivering mycological knowledge to support conservation and sustainable development. In: De Almeida R.F, Lücking R., Vasco-Palacios A., Gaya E., Diazgranados M. (Eds.). Catalogue of Fungi of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, 19–31. ISBN 978-1-84246-790-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-791-6.
Cossu T., Luecking L., Vargas-Estupiñán N., Carretero J., Vasco A. M., Moncada B., Kirk P., de Almeida R.F., Gaya E., Coca L.F., de Souza J., Diaz Escandon D., Franco Molano A.E., Gómez Montoya N., Gonzalez Cuellar F.E., Jaramillo-Ciro M.M., Motato Vásquez V., Niño Fernández Y.M., Ortiz Moreno M.L., Rocío Peña-Cañón E., Piepenbring M., Ramírez-Castrillón M., Salazar-Yepes M., Sanjuan T., Simijaca D,, Soto Medina E.A. & Diazgranados M.* 2022. Annotated Checklist of Fungi of Colombia In: De Almeida R.F, Lücking R., Vasco-Palacios A., Gaya E., Diazgranados M. (Eds.). Catalogue of Fungi of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, 209–513. ISBN 978-1-84246-790-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-791-6.
Diazgranados M.*, Cossu T., Kor L., Gori B., Torres-Morales G., Aguilar-Giraldo A., Jiménez-Pastrana D., Guevara-Ruiz L.I., Carretero J., dSouza J., Agudelo H., Ávila F., Negrão R. 2022. Annotated checklist of useful plants of Colombia. In: Negrão, R., Monro, A.K., Castellanos-Castro, C., Diazgranados, M. (Eds.), Catalogue of Useful Plants of Colombia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Great Britain, pp. 165–1055. ISBN 978-1-84246-774-9; eISBN 978-1-84246-775-6.
Ávila, F., J. Quintero, A. Guzmán, T. Ulian, G. Doria & Diazgranados, M.*. 2022. Guía de plantas útiles de la Serranía del Perijá: corregimientos de La Victoria de San Isidro y Estados Unidos, Cesar. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; E3- Ecología, Economía y Ética, Rutas Turísticas por los Bosques y la Paz. Bogotá, Colombia. Primera edición. 130p. ISBN: 978-628-95035-2-4.
Bohórquez-Osorio, A., Ulian T. & Diazgranados, M.*. 2022. Cartilla de plantas útiles de la Serranía de las Quinchas. Segunda Edición. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, & Ecología, Economía y Ética Asesorías, Rutas Turísticas por los bosques y la paz. 92 p. ISBN: 978-958-53032-9-4
Visscher, A. M., Vandelook, F., Fernández-Pascual, E., Pérez-Martínez, L. V., Ulian, T., Diazgranados, M., Mattana, E. 2022. Low availability of functional seed trait data from the tropics could negatively affect global macroecological studies, predictive models and plant conservation. Annals of Botany, 130 (6): 773–784, https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcac130
Pironon, S., Cantwell-Jones, A., Forest, F., Ball, J., Diazgranados, M., Douglas, R., Hawkins, J., Howes, M.-J. R., Ulian, T., Vaitla, B., Collar, D. Towards an action plan for characterizing food plant diversity. Nat. Plants 9, 34–35 (2023). https://d0i.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01300-0
Gori, B., Ulian, T., Bernal, H.Y., Diazgranados, M.* Understanding the diversity and biogeography of Colombian edible plants. Sci Rep 12, 7835 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11600-2
Cantwell-Jones, A., Ball, J., Collar, D., Diazgranados, M., Douglas, R., Forest, F., Hawkins, J., Howes, M.-J.R., Ulian, T., Vaitla, B., Pironon, S., 2022. Global plant diversity as a reservoir of micronutrients for humanity. Nature Plants 8(3), 225-232. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-022-01100-6; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01100-6
León-Lobos, P., Díaz-Forestier, J., Díaz, R., Celis-Diez, J.L., Diazgranados, M., Ulian, T., 2022. Patterns of Traditional and Modern Uses of Wild Edible Native Plants of Chile: Challenges and Future Perspectives. Plants 11(6), 744. doi:10.3390/plants11060744; https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/6/744
Diazgranados, M.* & Castellanos-Castro, C. 2021. Frailejones en peligro. Unión Europea, Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. 128 p. ISBN digital: 978-958-5183-20-9
Sklenář, P., Romoleroux, K., Muriel, P., Jaramillo, R., Bernardi, A., Diazgranados, M. & Moret, P. 2021. Distribution changes in páramo plants from the equatorial high Andes in response to increasing temperature and humidity variation since 1880. Alpine Botany. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00035-021-00270-x
Bystriakova, N., Tovar, C., Monro, A., Moat, J., Hendrigo, P., Carretero, J., Torres-Morales, G., Diazgranados, M.* 2021. Colombia’s bioregions as a source of useful plants. PloS one, 16(8), e0256457. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256457
Diazgranados, M.*, Tovar, C, Etherington, TR, Rodríguez-Zorro, PA, Castellanos-Castro, C, Galvis Rueda, M, Flantua, SGA. 2021. Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos. PeerJ. May 3;9:e11370. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11370
Kor, L., Homewood, K., Dawson, T. P. & Diazgranados, M.* 2021. Sustainability of wild plant use in the Andean Community of South America. Ambio. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01529-7
Padilla-González, G.F., Diazgranados, M., Da Costa, F.B. (2021) Effect of the Andean Geography and Climate on the Specialized Metabolism of Its Vegetation: The Subtribe Espeletiinae (Asteraceae) as a Case Example. Metabolites, 11(4), 220.54. https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11040220
Zhang, C., Atkinson, P.M., George, C., Wen, Z., Diazgranados, M. and Gerard, F., 2020. Identifying and mapping individual plants in a highly diverse high-elevation ecosystem using UAV imagery and deep learning. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 169, pp.280-291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2020.09.025
Ulian, T., Diazgranados, M., Pironon, S., Padulosi, S., Liu, U., Davies, L., Howes, M.J.R., Borrell, J.S., Ondo, I., Pérez‐Escobar, O.A. and Sharrock, S., 2020. Unlocking plant resources to support food security and promote sustainable agriculture. Plants, People, Planet, 2(5), pp.421-445. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10145
Grace OM, Lovett JC, Gore CJN, Moat J, Ondo I, Pironon S, Langat MK, Pérez-Escobar OA, Ross A, Suzan Abbo M, Shrestha KK, Gowda B, Farrar K, Adams J, Cámara-Leret R, Diazgranados M, Ulian T, Sagala S, Rianawati E, Hazra A, Masera OR, Antonelli A, and Wilkin P. 2020. Plant Power: Opportunities and challenges for meeting sustainable energy needs from the plant and fungal kingdoms. Plants, People, Planet 2(5), pp 446-462. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10147
Tellez, O., Mattana, E., Diazgranados, M., Kühn, N., Castillo-Lorenzo, E., Lira, R., Montes-Leyva, L., Rodriguez, I., Ortiz, C.M.F., Way, M. and Dávila, P., 2020. Native trees of Mexico: diversity, distribution, uses and conservation. PeerJ, 8, p.e9898.
Moreira-Muñoz A, Scherson RA, Luebert F, Román MJ, Monge M, Diazgranados M, and Silva H. 2020. Biogeography, phylogenetic relationships and morphological analyses of the South American genus Mutisia L.f. (Asteraceae) shows early connections of two disjunct biodiversity hotspots. Organisms Diversity & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-020-00454-z
Diazgranados, M.* & Moreno, N. 2020. Plantas útiles de la Reserva Natural Bojonawi (Escudo Guayanés), Orinoquia, Vichada, Colombia. Pp. 505-532. In: Lasso, C. A., F. Trujillo y M. A. Morales-Betancourt (Eds.). VIII. Biodiversidad de la Reserva Natural Bojonawi, Vichada, Colombia: río Orinoco y planicie de inundación. Serie Editorial Fauna Silvestre Neotropical. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. Bogotá, D. C., Colombia. ISBN: 978-958-5183-01-8. DOI: 10.21068/A2021FSNVIII
Padilla-González GF, Diazgranados M., Oliveira TB, Chagas-Paula DA, Da Costa FB. 2017. Chemistry of the subtribe Espeletiinae (Asteraceae) and its correlation with phylogenetic data: an in silico chemosystematic approach. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 186: 18–46. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/box078.
Shih-Hui L., Hoch P. C., Diazgranados, M., Raven P.H., & Barber J.C. 2017. Multi-locus phylogeny of Ludwigia L. (Onagraceae): insights on infra-generic relationships and the current classification of the genus. Taxon, 66(5): 1112-1127. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12705/665.7
Padilla-González, G.F., Diazgranados, M., da Costa, F.B. 2017. Biogeography shapes the metabolome of the genus Espeletia: insights into an adaptive radiation. Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 8835, doi:10.1038/s41598-017-09431-7. Available online.
Diazgranados, M.*, & JC. Barber. 2017. Geography shapes the phylogeny of frailejones (Espeletiinae Cuatrec., Asteraceae): a remarkable example of recent rapid radiation in sky islands. PeerJ 5:e2968 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2968.
Diazgranados, M.*, & L.R. Sanchez. 2017. Espeletia praesidentis, a new species of Espeletiinae (Millerieae, Asteraceae) from northeastern Colombia. Phytokeys, 76, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.76.11220. Available online.
Padilla-Gonzalez F. D., M. Diazgranados, G. Ccana-Ccapatinta, R. Casoti, F. B. Da Costa. 2017. Caffeic acid derivatives and further compounds from Espeletia barclayana Cuatrec. (Asteraceae, Espeletiinae). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, 70: 291–293. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bse.2016.12.016. Available online.
Lücking, et al. (including M. Diazgranados). 2016. Turbo-taxonomy to assemble a megadiverse lichen genus: seventy new species of Cora (Basidiomycota: Agaricales: Hygrophoraceae), honouring David Leslie Hawksworth’s seventieth birthday. Fungal Diversity 1-69. doi:10.1007/s13225-016-0374-9 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13225-016-0374-9
Funk, V. A., G. Sancho, N. Roque, C. L. Kelloff, I. Ventosa-Rodrígues, M. Diazgranados, J. Mauricio Bonifacino & R. Chan. 2014. A Phylogeny of the Gochnatieae: Understanding a critically placed tribe in the Compositae. Taxon 63(4): 859–882. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iapt/tax/2014/00000063/00000004/art00013.
Diazgranados, M.* & V. Funk. 2013. Utility of QR Codes in Biological Collections. Phytokeys 25: 21–34. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.25.5175.
Barber, J. C., M. DeAngelo & M. Diazgranados. 2013. Climate change and predictions of future distributions of Macaronesian Sideritis L. (Lamiaceae): a preliminary assessment. Vieraea 41: 123–134. http://goo.gl/IJ5RZx.
Diazgranados, M.* 2013. Aportes a la delimitación de los páramos desde el estudio de los frailejones [Contributions to the delimitation of the páramo ecosystem from the study of frailejones]. In: Cortés, J. & C. Sarmiento (Eds.). Visión socioecosistémica de los Páramos y la Alta Montaña Colombiana: Memorias del proceso de definición de criterios para la delimitación de páramos. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. Bogotá. p. 23–37. ISBN: 978-958-8343-90-7. http://uniciencia.ambientalex.info/infoCT/PDF_dinamico._Vision.socioecosistemica.paramos.pdf.
Diazgranados, M.* & R. Sánchez. 2013. A new species of Espeletiopsis (Asteraceae, Millerieae) from Colombia. Phytokeys 32: 37–48. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.32.6387.
Diazgranados, M.* & G. Morillo. 2013. A new species of Coespeletia (Asteraceae, Millerieae) from Venezuela. Phytokeys 28: 9–18. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.@.6378.
Diazgranados, M.* 2012. A nomenclator for the frailejones (Espeletiinae Cuatrec., Asteraceae). Phytokeys 16: 1–52. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.16.3186.
Graham, S. A., M. Diazgranados and J. C. Barber. 2011. Relationships Among the Confounding Genera Ammannia, Hionanthera, Nesaea, and Rotala (Lythraceae). Bot. Jour. Linnean Soc. 166:1–19. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2011.01126.x.
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