Richard Milne

Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0)131 650 5328
- Email: R.Milne@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
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Rm. G.26, Rutherford Building
- City
- Post code
Background
1987-1988 Assistant Scientific Officer, Herbarium of Kew Gardens
1988-1991 BSc in Plant Science, University of Bristol
1991-1992 Conducted biodiversity survey in Colombian rainforest
1993-1997 PhD, University of St Andrews
1998-2000 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of St Andrews
2001-2004 Postdoctoral Fellow on series of four small grants written with Dr Richard Abbott, University of St Andrews
2004 Joined University of Edinburgh; NERC Research Fellow
2008-2011 Appointed as Lecturer, jointly employed by University of Edinburgh and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
2011 Appointed as Lecturer, University of Edinburgh
Research summary
My reseach interests focus upon various areas of plant evolution, often but not always using Rhododendron as a study organism. I have published a series of papers on hybridisation in Rhododendron, which introduced to the scientific literature the novel concept of an "F1-dominated hybrid zone", in which large numbers of fertile F1 hybrids appear to exclude other genotypes from a specific habitat via superior fitness alone. My recent work on this area has involved collaborations with Chinese researchers, while my recent PhD student Tobias Marczewski conducted a detailed examination of hybrids and problematic Rhododendron taxa in Yunnan, China.
A second major area of interest is in biogeography, both at global and more local levels. I am interested in the timing, route and method of plant movement between landmasses, and have written two review articles on these topics. Recently completed PhD students Kathryn Armstrong and Bhaskar Adhikari each examined biogepgraphic patterns within particular areas (respectively SE Asia and Nepal), and how these related to global biodiversity patterns. Among my current students, Alan Elliott is continuing to examine Himalayan biogeography, Lakmini Kumarage will investigate how Sri Lanka’s flora is related to that from neighbouring landmasses, and Maria Camila Gomez is investigating patterns of speciation within the Paramo ecosystem of western South America. I also have a long standing interest in the systematics of Rhododendron subgenus Hymenanthes, a group found disjunctly throughout the northern Hemisphere, and which has undergone rapid radiation in the area around SW China.
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Blow to the northeast? Intraspecific differentiation of populus davidiana suggests a northeastward skew of a phylogeographic break boundary in East Asia
In:
Journal of biogeography
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13992
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Evolutionary legacy of a forest plantations tree species (Pinus armandii): Implications for widespread afforestation
In:
Evolutionary Applications
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Characteristics and mutational hotspots of plastomes in Debregeasia (Urticaceae)
In:
Frontiers in genetics
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Allopatric divergence and hybridization within Cupressus chengiana (Cupressaceae), a threatened conifer in the northern Hengduan Mountains of western China
In:
Molecular Ecology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15407
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Development of 32 novel microsatellite loci in Juglans sigillata (Juglandaceae) using genomic data
In:
Applications in plant sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aps3.11328
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
RADseq as a valuable tool for plants with large genomes-a case study in cycads
In:
Molecular Ecology Resources
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13085
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Proteomics and post-secretory content adjustment of Nicotiana tabacum nectar
In:
Planta, vol. 250, pp. 1703-1715
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-019-03258-4
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A complex pattern of post‐divergence expansion, contraction, introgression and asynchronous responses to Pleistocene climate changes in two Dipelta sister species from western China
In:
Journal of Systematics and Evolution, vol. 58
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.12524
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Floral nectar chitinase is a potential marker for monofloral honey botanical origin authentication: a case study from loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.)
(8 pages)
In:
Food Chemistry, vol. 282, pp. 76-83
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.12.107
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Relationships between Tertiary relict and circumboreal woodland floras: a case study in Chimaphila (Ericaceae)
(10 pages)
In:
Annals of Botany
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcz018
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Typification of Sri Lankan Gesneriaceae
(9 pages)
In:
Edinburgh Journal of Botany
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960428619000027
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Protect Third Pole’s fragile ecosystem
(2 pages)
In:
Science, vol. 362, pp. 1368-1369
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw0443
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Letter (Published) -
Trans‐lineage polymorphism and nonbifurcating diversification of the genus Picea
(12 pages)
In:
New Phytologist
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15590
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Complete chloroplast genome sequences of two Boehmeria species (Urticaceae)
(2 pages)
In:
Mitochondrial DNA Part B: Resources, vol. 3, pp. 939-940
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2018.1502635
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Testing Darwin's transoceanic dispersal hypothesis for the inland nettle family (Urticaceae)
(15 pages)
In:
Ecology Letters
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13132
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A transcriptome-based resolution for a key taxonomic controversy in Cupressaceae
(15 pages)
In:
Annals of Botany
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcy152
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Characterization of a L-Gulono-1,4-Lactone Oxidase Like Protein in the Floral Nectar of , Fabaceae
(10 pages)
In:
Frontiers in plant science, vol. 9, pp. 1109
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01109
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Integrating a comprehensive DNA barcode reference library with a global map of yews (Taxus L.) for forensic identification
(17 pages)
In:
Molecular Ecology Resources
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12903
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Strong population bottleneck and repeated demographic expansions of Populus adenopoda (Salicaceae) in subtropical China
(15 pages)
In:
Annals of Botany, vol. 121
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcx198
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome sequence of Cecropia pachystachya
(3 pages)
In:
Mitochondrial DNA Part B: Resources, vol. 2, pp. 735-737
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2017.1390420
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)