I am a systematic botanist with research interest covering taxonomy, morphology, cytology, reproductive biology, biogeography, ethnobotany, conservation and molecular phylogenetics. The Norwegian side of the NORPART project is headed by me.
My fields of interest in botany cover a wide range of plant groups and topics. My main interests are evolution and speciation, molecular systematics, historic biogeography, conservation and ethnobotany of selected plant groups.
I am a systematic botanist with a strong profile in ethnobotany and a research focus on molecular identification of plants. Plant identification using molecular barcoding has a huge potential for biodiversity, conservation, and monitoring of trade in plant genetic resources for pharmaceutical manufacturing, horticulture and tropical timber trade. Research projects in my group focus on systematics and evolution of plants and development and application of molecular identification. Some examples include DNA barcoding and metabarcoding of wild-harvested orchids in Europe, Asia and Africa used in salep and chikanda; molecular authentication of herbal medicines and food supplements; phylogenetics and systematics of genera in Orchidaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Asteraceae and Zingiberaceae.
I am a botanist with a strong background and interest in higher education. My research focusses on ethnobotany, archaeobotany and plant systematics and I am especially interested in human influences on biodiversity. One of my main projects focusses on plant use in Viking Age Scandinavia. In my research, I try to dissolve the boundaries between research, outreach and higher education by actively involving students and the general public in the research itself. In addition, I am a curator in the Botanical Garden and I coordinate NHMs MSc specialization in Biodiversity and Systematics.
Dr. Emily Wabuyele took up a teaching job at the plant Sciences Department of Kenyatta University in 2014, having practiced biodiversity research at the National Museums of Kenya since 1995. She is interested in the knowledge of East African plants, particularly the succulent flora which she has studied extensively over the Eastern African region.
My interests in botany cover a wide range of areas that include systematics, evolution, phytogeography, ethnobotany, pollination and reproductive biology and conservation biology. In systematics, I have primarily worked on petaloid monocotyledons, and taken responsibility to the writing of parts of Flora Tropical East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), Flora Zambesiaca (Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and the Caprivi Strip of Namibia) and Flora Namibia. Studies have focused on families Agapanthaceae, Alliaceae, Anthericaceae, Hyacinthaceae and Asphodelaceae, but also include works on Poaceae and Cyperaceae. Scholarly works include studies in conservation biology.
My research focuses on plant systematic and Ethnobotany, with a particular focus on the distribution and colonization history of the afro-alpine vegetation. I have also interest in traditional uses of plants through which the traditional ecological knowledge of local people’s reflected.
Systematics of petaloid monocots. Special interest in the Hypoxidaceae and Amaryllidaceae in the Flora Zambesiaca area. Conservation, ethnobotany and biological properties of the endemic flora on the serpentine soils of the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe.
