Rate My Professor Catarina Rydin

Catarina Rydin is the Professor of Plant Systematics in the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences at Stockholm University. She holds the position of Dean of the Biology Section in the Faculty of Science and serves as Integration Director for SciLifeLab at Stockholm University. As project leader of the Rydin Group, she directs research on macroevolution in vascular plants, investigating the interplay between structure, function, diversity, and distribution across geological timescales. Her approach integrates molecular sequence data, morphological traits from extant species, and fossil records to decipher pivotal evolutionary events that shaped contemporary plant diversity, with a focus on ancient lineages boasting extensive fossil histories.

Rydin’s primary research interests encompass the Gnetales, Isoetes, and Rubiaceae. Within Gnetales, her studies cover pollination biology—such as moonlight pollination in Ephedra—phylogeny, and long-term evolution. For Isoetes (Isoetaceae), she explores phylogenetic relationships, divergence times, and megaspore morphology, including the affinities of Isoetes wormaldii. In Rubiaceae, her work addresses phylogeny, biogeography, pollination biology, and character evolution, often revealing conflicts in genomic data that challenge established views. Select publications include: Rydin C, Blokzijl R, Thureborn O, Wikström N. 2021. Node ages, relationships, and phylogenomic incongruence in an ancient gymnosperm lineage – phylogeny of Ephedra revisited. Taxon 70(4): 701-719; Rydin C, Bolinder K. 2015. Moonlight pollination in the gymnosperm Ephedra (Gnetales). Biol Lett 11: 20140993; Rydin C, Friis EM. 2010. A new Early Cretaceous relative of Gnetales: Siphonospermum simplex gen. et sp. nov. from the Yixian Formation of northeast China. BMC Evol Biol 10: 183; Rydin C, Mohr BAR, Friis EM. 2003. Cratonia cotyledon gen. et sp. nov: a unique Cretaceous seedling related to Welwitschia. Proc Roy Soc Lond B 270(S1): 29-32. She has supervised PhD students like Kristina Bolinder and Chen Hou, postdocs such as Stefan Löfstrand, and various master’s students. Rydin frequently delivers invited talks, including plenaries at the 11th European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference (2022) and the Swedish Association for Systematic Biology conferences (2016, 2018).