Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria |
Miguel was born in Spain but relocated to
Tasmania in 1993, studied at the University
of Tasmania and completed his PhD in algal
taxonomy and genetics in 2004.
Since then he
worked at UTAS as research fellow in marine
biotechnology, and at the Australian Antarctic
Division as a phytoplankton taxonomist, a job
that took him to the frozen continent itself!
Despite his training in algae, Miguel has a love
of the vascular flora, and first joined HO in a
temporary position of identifications botanist.
With the departure of Marco Duretto, he moved
into the role of Senior Curator, responsible
for the native vascular flora. Together with
Matt Baker, HO's weed taxonomist, Miguel is
responsible for maintaining Tasmania's Vascular
Plant Census, contributing to the Tasmanian
side of the APC project, and keeping the Flora
of Tasmania online project active.
As well as
having very broad botanical skills and interests,
Miguel has also revealed a penchant for home
brewing, which has ensured him a bright future
at HO. He also has a keen interest in growing
weird and unusual carnivorous plants, an
interest that promises to translate into further
taxonomic work on Tasmanian Drosera and
Utricularia.
Source: Extracted from: G. Kantvilas (December 2011), New faces at HO. Australasian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 149: 41–42
Portrait Photo: Extracted from: above.
Data from 3,985 specimens