Address

University of Liège, Institute of Botany

B22, Sart Tilman, B -4000 Liège

Belgium

Email a.vanderpoorten@ulg.ac.be

Web References Personal Site

Island Biodiversity, Biogeography & Conservation - IBBC
Island Bryophytes

Alain Vanderpoorten

Past Recent Members

I have a broad interest for bryophyte biology and ecology. I started examining whether bryophytes are useful indicators of water quality during my PhD at the Agricultural Faculty of Gembloux (Belgium). This raised many questions about adaptation, ecotypic differentiation, and taxonomy of organisms with reduced morphologies within a convergence-prone environment. I hence moved to Duke University (NC, USA) for a post-doc with A.J. Shaw on the molecular systematics of a family of aquatic mosses. I went back to Belgium for another post-doc at the Catholic University of Louvain to further investigate morphological evolution in aquatic mosses using both experimental and comparative approaches. I also did at that time a short stay at Rhodes University in South Africa to investigate the radiation of the Cape Proteaceae with N. Barker. Tenured since 2003 at the Institute of Botany of the University of Liège (Belgium) as a research associate of the Belgian Funds for Scientific Research, I have been developing a lab and team mainly focusing on the ecological and historical biogeography of bryophytes through a wide range of approaches including ecological modeling, molecular phylogenetics, and population genetics. Using the Macaronesian islands as a model, we address in particular the question of whether bryophyte’s high dispersal ability affects the application of major biological, biogeographical and ecological rules and concept in the group.

Publications

Projects

ERRO 401

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