IUCN SSC Macaronesian Islands Plant Specialist Group

Dr. Juli Caujapé-Castells is the director of the Jardín Botánico “Viera y Clavijo”-Unidad Asociada al CSIC, a research division of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria devoted to the conservation of the Canarian and Macaronesian terrestrial floras through the knwoledge furnished by multi-disciplinary science. With a strong background in conservation genetics and molecular phylogenetics, he is also the Scientific Head of the Department of Molcular Biodiversity and DNA Bank at this institution. His research group uses the information contained in the molecule of DNA in an inter-disciplinary and creative context to investigate problems related to the floras from Macaronesia and other insular enclaves. Throughout his scientific career, he has published numerous papers on plant conservation genetics, phylogeny, phylogeography, and bioinformatics, he directed 5 PhD theses, he collaborates actively with more than 20 international research institutions, and he has led 21 research projects focused on insular floras, most of them international. The problems of his utmost interest are: 1. To better understand the origins, relationships, post-colonizing evolution, diversity, bio-geographic links and conservation of the current Canarian flora. 2. To integrate DNA banking and molecular data in multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomy. 3. To help formulate conservation objectives for insular plant endemics worldwide, fostering pattern generalization beyond single cases. 4. To promote public awareness of biodiversity research & education developed in Botanic Gardens. 5. To facilitate the storage, analysis and meta-analysis of any kind of genetic diversity data.