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Anne Dubéarnès

anne_dubéarnès

I am a plant taxonomist and systematist with a passion for botany, especially tropical ecosystems, and a fervent advocate for the use of natural history collections to advance scientific knowledge and public awareness of biodiversity and conservation issues.
My passion for plant taxonomy and herbarium work started with a summer internship at the Strasbourg University Herbarium and a six months placement at the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, both conducted as part of my Master’s studies. At Kew, I was tasked with the curation and taxonomic revision of the tropical plant genus Embelia in Peninsular Malaysia. Three new species were lying there, waiting to be discovered. I instantly developed deep fascination and respect for herbarium collections, not only for the treasure trove of scientific information that they offer, but also for the stories they tell, their great historical and human value. I went on to complete a PhD in Botany at Trinity College Dublin, investigating the morphology, phylogeny and taxonomy of Embelia over its entire range, then took a position as Scientific Curator and Research Engineer at the Herbarium of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris. I am currently a Postdoctoral Lecturer in the Botany Department at Trinity College Dublin, where I teach undergraduate modules about plant systematics and taxonomy, molecular phylogenetics, biodiversity and conservation.
My long-term career objective is to contribute to the progress of plant taxonomic knowledge through a multidisciplinary approach, combining innovative morphological studies on herbarium collections, field-based research, molecular phylogenetics, bioinformatics, and science outreach.

Research expertise

My approach to phylogeny and taxonomy is multi-disciplinary; it integrates a strong component of morphological studies in addition to molecular analyses, and is motivated by the goal of producing reliable and practical information for conservation purposes. To date, my research has focused on combining information derived from plant and pollen morphology, morphometric studies of floral characters, and molecular phylogeny to revise the taxonomic framework of Embelia Burm.f. (Primulaceae) over its entire range, and investigate its evolutionary relationship with other Myrsinoideae. I am also conducting a species-level taxonomic revision of its type subgenus in Malesia, and am contributing to several regional Floras. More recently, I have expanded my research to the field of macroecology, studying patterns of species extinction risks at local and global scales, investigating their relationships to different facets of biodiversity (e.g. species richness, endemism and phylogenetic diversity), and developing methods to estimate individual species extinction risks by using herbarium databases.

Publications

1. Dubéarnès, A., Julius, A. & Utteridge, T.M.A. (2015). “A synopsis of the genus Embelia in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Studies in Malaysian Myrsinaceae III”. Kew Bulletin 70(25). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-015-9570-0.
2. Zhao, D., Parnell, J.A.N. & Dubéarnès, A. (2016). “Requests for binding decisions on the descriptive statement associated with Thea dormoyana and T. piquetiana”. Taxon 65(5): 1183. https://doi.org/10.12705/655.29.
3. Haevermans, T., Tressou, J., Kwon, J., Pellens, R., Dubéarnès, A., Veron, S., Bel, L., Dervaux, S., Dibie-Barthelemy, J., Gaudeul, M., Govaerts, R., Le Bras, G., Muller, S., Rouhan, G., Sarthou, C., Soler, L. (2021). "Global Plant Extinction Risk Assessments Inform Novel Biodiversity Hotspots". [Submitted to Nature Ecology and Evolution in Dec 2021, currently in Revision stage. Preprint available on bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.08.463027.]

Grants and Awards

Year	Name of grant & Funding body	Amount
2019	Travel Grant Award. Trinity Trust Graduate Studies Sub-Committee, TCD.	€500
2018	Bentham-Moxon Trust grant. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.	£380
2018	Emily Holmes Memorial Scholarship. Amar-Franses and Foster-Jenkins Trust, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.	£1,580
2017	Travel Grant Award. Trinity Trust Graduate Studies Sub-Committee, TCD.	€500
2017	SYNTHESYS III / Call 4. European Community Research Infrastructure Action - FP7 Capacity Program.	£2,185
2016	Trinity College Dublin Postgraduate Studentship Award.	One year of tuition fees + stipend
2016	Travel Grant Award. Trinity Trust Graduate Studies Sub-Committee, TCD.	€200
2014	SYNTHESYS III / Call 1. European Community Research Infrastructure Action - FP7 Capacity Program.	€1,251
2013	David Webb PhD Studentship. Trinity College Dublin, Botany Department.	Three years of tuition fees + stipend