Ricarda Riina - Postdoctoral Fellow











email: riina@umich.edu | phone: 734-615-6200
Academic background
University of Wisconsin-Madison, M.Sc. 2003, Ph.D. 2006.
Universidad Central de Venezuela-Caracas, Licenciatura, 1996


Euphorbia Planetary Biodiversity Inventory Project

Fields of study
 Molecular plant systematics and evolution, taxonomy, biogeography, and floristics.

Research interests
I am interested in floristics, biogeography, conservation, taxonomy, and systematics of plant groups and floras of tropical regions and the Neotropics in particular. I use two approaches to understand tropical diversity and to answer questions about their biogeographic patterns, natural history, and evolutionary history. I work on the two largest genera of the family Euphorbiaceae (Croton and Euphorbia) and I investigate floristic and biogeographic patterns in several regions of South America (Guayana, Llanos, and Andes). I am also interested in the question of speciation and the role of hybridization and biogeography (including geographic/geological history and plant dispersal ability) on the diversification of specious plant lineages with highly conserved floral morphology, as appears to be the case of Croton and Euphorbia. My research on the genus Croton focuses on the molecular systematics, character evolution, and taxonomy of one medicinally important group (dragon’s blood trees) from the Neotropics. The work on Euphorbia is of broader impact because it entails the production of worldwide web-based monograph of the genus, an interactive and illustrated key for species identification, and phylogenetics studies in the broader sense and in particular groups within the genus.

Select publications

Duno, R., F.W. Stauffer, R. Riina, O. Huber, G. Aymard, O. Hokche, P.E. Berry, and W. Meier. Vascular Plant Diversity and Endemism in Venezuela: Current State of Knowledge. Candollea (in press)
Riina, R., P.E. Berry, and B.W. Van Ee.  Molecular phylogenetics of the dragon’s blood Croton section Cyclostigma (Euphorbiaceae), a polyphyletic assemblage unraveled. Systematic Botany (in press)
Wiedenhoeft, A.C., R. Riina, and P.E. Berry. Ray-intrusive” laticifers in the rays of species of Croton section Cyclostigma (Euphorbiaceae) may be non-articulated.  IAWA Journal (in press)
Riina, R. 2008. Croton (p.p.) - Euphorbiaceae. In: Nuevo Catalogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela (Hokche, O., P.E. Berry y O. Huber, eds.), pp. 367–369. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela, Caracas.
Van Ee, B.W., P.E. Berry, R. Riina, and J.E. Gutierrez Amaro. 2008. Molecular Phylogenetics and Biogeography of the Caribbean-centered Croton subgenus Moacroton (Euphorbiaceae s.s.). Bot. Rev. 74:132-165.
Caruzo, M.B.R., R. Riina, I. Cordeiro, and P.E. Berry. 2008. Croton campanulatus (Euphorbiaceae s.s.), a new species from the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest. Brittonia 60(3): 261–264.
Riina, R., P.E. Berry, and X. Cornejo. 2007. A new species of sangre de drago (Croton sect. Cyclostigma, Euphorbiaceae) from coastal Ecuador. Brittonia 59 (1): 97–101.
Riina, R., R. Duno, G. Aymard, A. Fernández y O. Huber. 2007. Diversidad florística de los Llanos de Venezuela. In: Catálogo de la Flora de los Llanos de Venezuela (R. Duno, G. Aymard y O. Huber, eds.), pp. 107–123. Fundación Polar-Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela, Caracas.
Berry, P.E. and R. Riina. 2007. A new collaborative research project: a global inventory of the spurges. Euphorbia World 3(1): 12–13.
Huber , O., R. Duno, G. Aymard, and R. Riina. 2006. Flora and vegetation of the Venezuelan Llanos: A Review. In: Neotropical savannas and dry forests: diversity, biogeography, and conservation (Pennington, R.T., G.P. Lewis, and J.A.  Ratter, eds.), pp. 95–120. The Systematics Association Special Volume Series 69. Taylor & Francis Group.
León, B., R. Riina, and P.E. Berry. 2006. Euphorbiaceae endémicas del Perú. Revista Peruana de  Biología.  Número especial 13(2): 295–301.
Berry, P.E. and R. Riina. 2005. Insights into the diversity of the Pantepui flora and the biogeographic complexity of the Guayana Shield. In: Plant Diversity and Complexity Patterns: Local, Regional and Global Dimensions (I. Friis and H. Baslev, eds.). Biol. Skr. 55: 145–167.
Berry, P.E., A. Hipp, K.J. Wurdack, B. Van Ee, and R. Riina. 2005. Molecular phylogenetics of the giant genus Croton and tribe Crotoneae (euphorbiaceae sensu stricto) using ITS and trnL–F DNA sequence data. American Journal of Botany 92(9): 1520–1534.
Judziewicz, E.J. and R. Riina. 2005. Aulonemia dinirensis (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Bambuseae) a new dwarf Venezuelan species from the easternmost Andean páramos. Bamboo Science and Culture 19(1): 11–15.