Paul E. Berry - Director, Professor











email: peberry@umich.edu | phone: 734-647-3689

Academic Background
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, Ph.D.
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, M.A.
Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, B.S.

Lab web site | Euphorbia Planetary Biodiversity Inventory Project


Reserach Interests
My research interests are in plant systematics, including floristics, molecular phylogenetics, phytogeography, and bioinformatics. My work has mainly focused on the Neotropics, particularly the Guayana Shield, the Andes, and Brazil, as well as the upper midwestern United States. Plant groups of special interest are Euphorbiaceae (Euphorbia and Croton), Fuchsia (Onagraceae), and Rapateaceae. I am particularly interested in the study of “giant genera,” those that are considered to contain over 500 species and have often been avoided because of their complex taxonomy, geography, and large numbers.

My newest research project stems from my interest in Euphorbiaceae, giant genera, and international collaborations. I am the Principal Investigator on a new National Science Foundation award in the “PBI” program (Planetary Biodiversity Inventories). The project is called “EuphORBia: a global inventory of the spurges,” and it aims to produce a worldwide virtual monograph of the genus by 2012, using modern bioinformatic tools, traditional field work and taxonomy, molecular phylogenetics, and floral developmental studies. Euphorbia contains over 2000 species and is distributed worldwide, but is most prominent in Africa, where many cactus-like succulents have evolved. We wish to make this a highly collaborative project, with training of students, postdocs, and participation of colleagues on all the vegetated continents.

Recent Publications

Hokche, O., P. E. Berry, and O. Huber (editors). 2008. Nuevo Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de Venezuela. Herbario Nacional de Venezuela, Caracas.

Woodward, C.L., P.E. Berry, H. Maas-van de Kamer, and K. Swing. Tiputinia foetida, a new mycoheterotrophic genus of Thismiaceae from Amazonian Ecuador, and a likely case of deceit pollination. Taxon 56: 157-162. 2007.

Van Ee B.W., N. Jelinski, P.E. Berry, and A.L. Hipp. 2006. Phylogeny and biogeography of Croton alabamensis (Euphorbiaceae), a rare shrub from Texas and Alabama, using DNA sequence and AFLP data. Molecular Ecology 15: 2735-2751.

Berry, P.E., A.L. 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-trnF sequence data. American Journal of Botany 92: 1520–1534.

Berry, P.E., I. Cordeiro, A.C. Wiedenhoeft, M.A. Vitorino-Cruz and L.R. Lima. 2005. Brasiliocroton, a new crotonoid genus of Euphorbiaceae s.s. from eastern Brazil. Systematic Botany 30:357-365.

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., K. Yatskievych, and B.K. Holst (editors). 1995-2005. Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana. Volumes 1 through 9. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis. (entire flora of nine volumes completed in October 2005, including 5,000 figures and 6,000 pages).

Secco R.D., P.E. Berry, and C.S.Rosario. 2005. A new species of Croton sect. Luntia (Euphorblaceae) from western Amazonian Brazil. Novon 15: 583-585.

Berry, P.E. and A. Wiedenhoeft. 2004. Micrandra inundata (Euphorbiaceae), a new species with unusual wood anatomy from black-water river banks in southern Venezuela. Systematic Botany 29: 125-133.

Givnish, T.G., K.C. Millam, T.M. Evans, J.C. Hall, J C. Pires, P.E. Berry, and K.J. Sytsma. 2004. Ancient vicariance or recent long-distance dispersal? Inferences about phylogeny and South American-African disjunctions in Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae based on ndhF sequence data. International Journal of Plant Sciences 165(4 Suppl.):S35–S54. 2004.

Berry, P.E., W. Hahn, K.J. Sytsma, J.C. Hall, and A. Mast. 2004. Phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of Fuchsia (Onagraceae) based on non-coding nuclear and chloroplast DNA data. American Journal of Botany 91: 601-614.

Berry, P.E. 2002. Biological inventories and the PhyloCode. Taxon 51: 27-29.

Berry, P.E. 2002. Diversidad y endemismo en los bosques neotropicales de bajura. Chapter 4, pp. 83–96 in M. R. Guariguata & G. H. Kattan (eds.), Ecología de Bosques Neotropicales. Libro Universitario Regional, Cartago, Costa Rica.

Berry, P.E., V. Savolainen, K.J. Sytsma, J.C. Hall & M.W. Chase. 2001. Lissocarpa is sister to Diospyros (Ebenaceae). Kew Bulletin 56: 725-729.

Givnish, T. J., T. M. Evans, M. L. Zjhra, T. B. Patterson, P. E. Berry and K. J. Sytsma. 2000. Molecular evolution, adaptive radiation, and geographic diversification in the amphiatlantic family Rapateaceae: evidence from ndhF sequences and morphology. Evolution 54: 1915-1937.