Dr Zoe Goodwin
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Dr Zoë Goodwin, South American Biodiversity Researcher
I am a tropical botanist specialising in the Neotropical flora, in particular I am interested in the savanna and dry forests of Central and South America.
After my MSc I spent much of my time collecting and identifying plants in the forests and lowland savannas of Belize, Central America. During my PhD I investigated the history of tropical taxa through herbarium specimens, and how these herbarium specimens have influenced our understanding of tropical diversity.
I continue to work on the flora of Belize and in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests of the Marañón valley in Peru, an inter-Andean valley which is famous for its exceptional number of endemic species.
I also specialise in teaching the vegetative identification of tropical plant families and general field identification skills. I am a regular course leader on the RBGE's MSc in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants 'Field Course' in Belize and Colombia. In 2021-23 I am the assistant lecturer on the MSc, I am course leader for the 'Evolution of Plants' course and I will help teach the 'Biodiversity of Angiosperm' and 'Tropical Plant Identification' modules for the MSc.
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- Selected Publications
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Goodwin, Z.A. et al. (2020) How long does it take to discover a species? Systematics and Biodiversity
Goodwin, Z.A. et al. (2020) Belize and the RBGE: Reflecting on 16 years of collaborative training. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 77 (2): 291–309
Goodwin, Z.A. et al. (2015) Widespread mistaken identity in tropical plant collections. Current Biology 25 (22): R1066–R1067
Goodwin, Z.A. et al. (2013) A checklist of the vascular plants of the lowland savannas of Belize, Central America. Phytotaxa 101 (1): 1–119
Hicks, J., Goodwin, Z.A. et al. (2011) A floristic description of the San Pastor Savanna, Belize, Central America. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 68 (2): 273–296
- Specimens
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Belize (2006+) - The top sets of my specimens (numbers 100+) are held at E and BRH, additional sets are held at BM, MEXU, MO & K.
Brasil (2019) - Collected with Peter Moonlight, top set held at HUEFS.
Perú (2020) - Collected with Paúl Gonzáles, held at USM, E, MOL, MO, CPUN & QCA.
St Lucia (2005) - Numbers 1-100 are held at the National Herbarium of St Lucia & UPRRP.
Citation:
Goodwin, Zoë. 2022. Natural history specimens collected and/or identified and deposited. [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3581428
- Selected Media Coverage
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“Museum Mistakes” 2015 Interview with BBC World Service
Scotsman Interview 2015
- Outreach
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Linnean Society Talk: Stories from Plant Collections: Science, History and Culture (Talk and Q&A)
Botanics Story: Learning on the job: students make valuable scientific discoveries
Botanics Story: Hot, steep and spiny – Exploring the forgotten forests of Latin America
Z.A. Goodwin (2016) Lets talk about coffee – correctly. Standart 6: 20-23
- Education
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- PhD, Univ. Oxford, 2018. “Completing the global inventory of plants–Species discovery and diversity”
- MSc Biodiversity & Taxonomy of Plants, Univ. Edinburgh & Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2006. “Floral evolution in the Streptocarpus cyaneus (Moore) complex”
- BSc Environmental Biology, Univ. St Andrews, 2005. “Further investigation into possible gene flow between sympatric Senecio glaucus L. and Senecio vernalis Waldst. & Kit. in Israel: evidence for a previously undetected hybrid swarm.”
- Project - Lowland Savanna of Belize
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Useful links:
Darwin Initiative Project 17-022 Conservation of the lowland savanna ecosystem in Belize
Searchable end of project database (BRAHMS online)
Specimens held at E (search for Collector Surname/Expedition = "Goodwin" + Country = "Belize")
Field guides to the flora of the lowland savanna of Belize:
- Project - Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests of the Marañón valley in Peru
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Useful links:
Newton-Paulet Funded project website: Increasing knowledge of dry and montane ecosystems across Peru
Publications:
Paúl Gonzáles, Asunción Cano, Tiina Särkinen, Zoë Goodwin, Niels Valencia, Inés Sachahuamán y José Luis Marcelo-Peña. Las plantas comunes del bosque seco del Marañón Biodiversidad para las comunidades locales
Yawei Cao, Zoë Goodwin, Paúl Gonzáles y Tiina Särkinen. Guide to the common Apocynaceae species of the Marañón seasonally dry tropical forest English & Español
Outreach:
Botanics Story: Hot, steep and spiny – Exploring the forgotten forests of Latin America
- Students
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Oldroyd, Lizzie. 2010. Illustrated user-friendly identification key to the Cyperaceae of Belize.
Tesh, Jonathan P. 2012. A survey of floral structure in Drypetes Vahl (Putranjivaceae) and related genera.
Bogle, Aubrie. 2021. A Phytogeographic Analysis of the Lowland Savannas in Belize.
Cao, Yawei. 2021. An Annotated Checklist of Apocynaceae in the Marañón Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest (Peru).
Discover more
- Dr Caroline Lehmann, Head of Tropical Diversity
- Dr Hannah Atkins
- Dr Mark Hughes
- Dr Catherine Kidner
- Dr Michael Möller
- Dr James Richardson
- Dr Louis Ronse De Craene
- Dr Tiina Sarkinen
- Dr Peter Wilkie
- Dr Mark Newman
- Dr Peter Moonlight
- Dr Kanae Nishii
- Sanna Olander
- Jess Rickenback
- Madhavi Sreenath
- Thibauld Michel
- Briggitthe Melchor Castro
- Elliot Convery-Fisher, PhD Candidate
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