Florida Museum of Natural History
Cellinese Lab
Led by Nico Cellinese · Florida Museum of Natural History (Herbarium)
What we study
The Cellinese Lab studies the evolution, classification and geographic spread of flowering plants, with fieldwork from Mediterranean islands to African deserts and arctic and alpine North America. It also builds data tools for biodiversity and phylogenetics, such as phyloreferences.
What working here is like
- Fieldwork
- Computational
- Plants
- Coding helps
- Projects
- 4
- Papers
- 4
What we're looking for
“If you are interested in joining the lab, feel free to contact Nico with your research interests.”
Current projects
Systematics, evolution and biogeography of Campanulaceae
Studies the evolution, classification and spread across the globe of the bellflower family (Campanulaceae), using DNA evidence and fieldwork.
The Phylogenomics of Vaccinium (Blueberries) with special emphasis on the diversification of Hawaiian Ohelo
Uses genome-wide DNA data to work out how blueberries and relatives evolved, especially the diversification of Hawaiian ohelo.
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Phyloreferencing: Querying Life in a post-taxonomic age
Develops phyloreferencing, a way to define groups of living things by their evolutionary relationships so biological data can be queried.
Evolution of monocotyledonous geophytes with special focus on African Ledebouria and close relatives
Studies the evolution of geophytes, plants with underground storage organs, focusing on African Ledebouria and their close relatives.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Shared and Divergent Processes Linked to Monocot Diversity Across the Mediterranean Climate Regions
2026 · Global Ecology and Biogeography
Compares how different factors affect plant diversity in Mediterranean regions.
- Phylogenomics of Melastomataceae: rooting out discordance across organellar and nuclear genomes
2026 · Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Builds a genetic tree for Melastomataceae using thousands of DNA markers.
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- Phylogenomics confirm the monophyly of Guzmania (Bromeliaceae: Tillandsioideae) and provide evidence regarding alternative hybridization scenarios involving G. monostachia
2026 · American Journal of Botany
Uses genetic data to study the evolution and conservation of Guzmania plants.
- The spatiotemporal origin of Polynesian blueberries ( Vaccinium )
2025 · American Journal of Botany
Traces the origins of Polynesian blueberries using genetic and fossil data.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Nico Cellinese hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.