Tackling the taxonomy of Nothoscordum
Phylogenomics of South American garlics
Nothoscordum is a plant genus that is closely related to onions and garlic (Allium) but occurs, in contrast to this genus, nearly exclusively in South America. It is currently not clear how Nothoscordum species are related to each other, how and where they evolved and are distributed today, and not even how many species belong to this genus.
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The aims of this project are:
• to infer the origin of the genus (place and date) and the number of species.
•to identify morphological and genetically different entities.
• to Increase the knowledge for the South American flora.
Current Projects
My research is focused on plant systematics employing integrative approaches, including traditional and state-of-the-art methods.
Population genetics within Beauverdia + Nothoscordum
Some species of Nothoscordum (=Beauverdia) are distributed in the Pampean region (South America) and formed a monophyletic group with a particular combination of morphological and karyological characters. This project intends to delimitate the species and recognize different levels of morphological and genetic variation.
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The aims of this project are:
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to evaluate the morphological and karyological variability at population-level within the distribution area of Beauverdia/Nothoscordum species
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to assess levels of genetic variation, it's geographic distribution and admixture within and among populations and species of Ipheion
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to recognize independent evolution units useful for conservation purposes.
