Ramona Irimia

I am a plant ecologist with an interest in ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that enable species to adapt to environmental change. I use invasive plants as study systems and a combination of fieldwork, common garden experiments, statistics and genomic approaches to investigate species resilience to climate change, invasive potential and adaptive capacity across native and introduced ranges. Recently, I have also begun exploring herbarium collections and archival DNA to study eco-evolutionary changes in natural populations over time.

Uncovering the genetics of an iconic plant invasion through museomics (Research Seed Capital (RISC) for Junior Researchers of The Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of Baden-Württemberg (2023).

Spatiotemporal dynamics of invasion in a global invader plant (BMBF and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, 2022-2023).

Evolution of plant defenses during a plant invasion (DFG-NSFC, 2020-2022).

CloneInvasion – Eco-evolutionary dynamics of biological invasions reconstructed from ancient DNA (H2020-MSCA-IF, 2022-2023).

[10]. Irimia RE, Zhao W, Cao P, Parepa M, Liao Z, Wang S, Mounger JM, Richardson C, Elkott F, Zhuang X, Bi J, Zhao Y, Kugler E, Rafalski J, Schloter E, Wu J, Ju RT, Yang J, Li B, Bossdorf O, Richards CL (2024). Cross-continental shifts of ecological strategy in a global plant invader. Global Ecology and Biogeography 34: e70001. 

[9]. Irimia RE, Montesinos D, Chaturvedi A, Sanders I, Hierro JL, Sotes G, Cavieres LA, Eren Ö, Lortie CJ, French K, Brennan AC (2023). Trait evolution during a rapid global weed invasion despite little genetic differentiation. Evolutionary Applications 16: 997–1011.

[8]. Branco S, Irimia RE, Montesinos D (2023). The introduction of an invasive weed was not followed by the introduction of ethnobotanical knowledge: a review on the ethnobotany of Centaurea solstitialis L. (Asteraceae). PeerJ 11: e15489. 

[7]. Irimia RE, Hierro JL, Branco S, Sotes G, Cavieres LA, Eren Ö, Lortie CJ, French K, Callaway RM, Montesinos D (2021). Experimental admixture among geographically disjunct populations of an invasive plant yields a global mosaic of reproductive incompatibility and heterosis. Journal of Ecology 109: 2152–2162.

[6]. Irimia RE, Lopes SMM, Sotes G, Cavieres LA, Eren Ö, Lortie CJ, French K, Hierro JL, Rosche C, Callaway R, Pinho e Melo TMVD, Montesinos D (2019). Biogeographic differences in the allelopathy of leaf surface extracts of an invasive weed. Biological Invasions 21: 3151–3168.

[5]. Žerdoner Čalasan A, Kretschmann J, Filipowicz, NH, Irimia RE, Kirsch M, Gottschling M (2019). Towards global distribution maps of unicellular organisms such as calcareous dinophytes based on DNA sequence information. Marine Biodiversity 49: 749–758.

[4]. Irimia RE, Montesinos D, Eren O, Lortie CJ, French K, Cavieres LA, Sotes GJ, Hierro JL, Jorge A, Loureiro J (2017). Extensive analysis of native and non-native Centaurea solstitialis L. populations across the world shows no traces of polyploidization. PeerJ 5: e3531.

[3]. Irimia RE, Gottschling M (2016). Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720. 

[2]. Irimia RE, Gottschling M (2015). A new species of Rochefortia (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales) from the Lesser Antilles. Phytotaxa 236: 62–70.

[1]. Irimia RE, Pérez-Escobar OA, Gottschling M (2015). Strong biogeographic signal in the phylogenetic relationships of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Plant Systematics and Evolution 301: 1509–1516.