Miguel Leal, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator
Wm. L. Brown Center
Missouri Botanical Garden
P.O. Box 299
St. Louis, MO 63166-0299
USA

MBG resident botanist in Gabon
BP 7847 Libreville, Gabon
tel.: +241 07150691 (Africa)
fax.:+241 44 42 74
tel.: +31 611152755 (Europe)
email: miguel.leal@mobot.org

Ph.D., Wageningen University, 2004
M.Sc., University of Amsterdam, 1994
Baccalaureate, University of Utrecht, 1990

General Scientific interests

My specific focus, related to my Ph.D., is to explain the ecological and biogeographical patterns of the Caesalpinioideae (Leg.) within the African rain forest in relation to Quaternary rain forest dynamics as a response to increased upwelling of cold deep sea water. My wider focus is to gain a better understanding in how ecological processes at a local scale in response to global changes determine evolutionary processes at a regional or continental scale. (But basically all aspects within the Earth sciences have my interest).

Biogeography

My Dutch-Colombian origin and my early life in the tropics of South America (Colombia) and Africa (Mozambique) has inspired me to study biology and, in particular, tropical ecology. After having finished secondary school (VWO-Gymnasium) I went to study biology in Utrecht (UU) and graduated in Amsterdam (UvA). During this period I spent time in the cloud forests of Costa Rica investigating leaf characteristics along a successional gradient, and in the Colombian Amazonas studying the pollination and seed dispersal of lianas. After my graduation, I continued in Wageningen at the Herbarium to learn more about plant taxonomy and systematics, and where I started my Ph.D.-study. In 2004, I defended my thesis after two years being chased by elephants in the African rain forest.

Selected Publications

• Leal, M.E. 2007 Novitates Rio Munis 1. A new endemic Scaphopetalum (Malvaceae) from the Mount Mitra, Equatorial Guinea. Blumea 52:278-280.
• Patterns and drivers of the tree a-diversity of African rain forests: is diversity controlled by climate? 2006. Parmentier Ingrid, Senterre B., Malhi Y., Whittaker R.J., A.T.D.N. (collective author), Alonso A. , Balinga M.P.B. , Bakayoko A., Bongers F.,Chatelain C. , Comiskey J., Cortay R., Djuikouo Kamdem M.N., Doucet J.L., Eilu G., Eyraud J., Gauier L., Geldenhuys C., Hawthorne W.D., Issembe Y.A., Kouamé N.F. , Kouka L., Leal M.E., Lejoly J., Lewis S.L., Muller T., Newbery D., Nusbaumer L., Parren M., Peh K.S.-H., Phillips O.L., Poorter L., Sheil D. , Sonké B., Sosef M.S.M., Sunderland T., Stropp J., ter Steege H., Swaine M., Tchouto P., Timberlake J., van Valkenburg J., Wöll H. British Ecological Society Annual Meeting, University of Oxford, UK. 5-7 September
• Leal, M.E. 2005 Novitates Gabonenses 61. A new rare endemic Calvoa (Melastomataceae) from the Mbé National Park, Gabon. Blumea: 50, 473-475.
• M.E. Leal, 2004. The African rain during the last ice age, an archipelago of forest in a sea of grass. Ph.-D. thesis. Wageningen University, the Netherlands.
• Sosef, M.S.M. & M.E. Leal, 2002. A new Begonia species from the Lopé Reserve (Gabon) Novitates Gabonensis 41. Wageningen Univ. Papers 2002: 267–271.
• M.E. Leal, 2002. Microrefugia, small scale ice age forest remnants. Geography & Systematics of Plants 71: 1073-1077.
• M. Kappelle & M.E. Leal, 1996. Changes in leaf characteristics along a successional gradient in a Costa Rican upper montane Quercus-forest. Biotropica 28 (3): 331-344.
• M.E. Leal & M. Kappelle, 1994. Leaf anatomy of secondary montane Quercus-forest in Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Tropical 42 (3): 437-478.

Updated 02/21/07.