Rodrigo Bernal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | June 6, 1959 |
| Nationality | Colombian |
| Alma mater | University of Aarhus |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
Rodrigo Bernal González (born June 6, 1959 in Medellín) is a Colombian botanist who specialises in the palm family. Bernal was a faculty member at the Institute of Natural Sciences, National University of Colombia until 2007. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, in 1996. He was general curator of the National Colombian Herbarium (1986-1987), and editor of the scientific journal Caldasia (1989-1991, 1997-1999).
Bernal has published five books and 105 scientific papers and book chapters, most on them on palm systematics, ecology, uses and conservation. He has described one new genus (Sabinaria) and 25 new species of palms in the genera Aiphanes, Astrocaryum, Bactris, Chamaedorea, Geonoma, Oenocarpus, Sabinaria, Socratea, and Wettinia. He has described also new species in the plant families Cyclanthaceae, Sapindaceae, and Caprifoliaceae.
Bernal coauthored a Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas[1] and a field guide to the palms of Colombia (2010). Bernal is also coauthor of Common Names of Plants in Colombia, an online dictionary of over 18,000 common names applied to plants in Colombia, which provides information on the distribution of each name, and its corresponding scientific name. Since 2001 he has coordinated the production of the Catalogue of the Plants of Colombia [1], a checklist of the ca. 30,000 plant species occurring in Colombia. The production of this work involves 171 botanists in 19 countries. Since 2007 Bernal has been involved in building up the National Collection of Colombian Palms, an initiative to gather living specimens of all native Colombian palms at the Quindío Botanic Garden, in Calarcá. In 1996 he received the Sciences Award of the Fundación Alejandro Angel Escobar [2] for In 1996 for the Field guide to American palms (co-authored by Andrew Henderson & Gloria Galeano Garcés).[2]
