M.Sc., University of Antioquia in Colombia.

Current Research:

My dissertation project has two major goals. (1) resolving phylogenetic relationships among basal members of the mushroom genus Russula using both morphological and molecular data and (2) documenting diversity and biogeography of Neotropical members of the genus. The genus Russula contains approximately 280 species, of which 44 have been reported from Costa Rica and 5 from Colombia. Different classification sytems have been proposed for Russula but none of them provides a congruent and solid phylogeny of the genus. Recent molecular studies suggested Russula as a polyphyletic or paraphyletic group depending on taxon sampling. Since these analyses have been performed based solely in temperate species, my work is aimed to recover and to include the neotropical species that can provide information needed to clarify the species relationships within the genus.

Publications:

Aldana-Gómez, R. & A.E. Franco-Molano. 2001. A new species of Gloiocephala from Colombia. Mycotaxon 80: 447-452.

Aldana-Gómez, R., Y. Saldarriaga, J.J. Builes & F. Pineda. 1999. Genetic polymorfism and toxin production evaluations of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sor. In: 3rd. Latinoamerican Congress of Micology. Abstracts book. University of Simón Bolívar. Caracas, Venezuela.

Franco-Molano, A. E., R. Aldana-Gómez & L.E. Tobón-A. 1999. Macromycetes of the Alto San Miguel Ecological Reserve, Caldas (Antioquia). In: Biodiversity Inventory of the Alto San Miguel Ecological Reserve.

Franco-Molano, A.E., R. Aldana-Gómez & R.E. Halling. 2000. Mushrooms of Colombia: Agaricales, Boletales and others, Field guide.

Mueller, G.M., Q.X. Wu, Y.Q. Huang, S.Y. Guo, R. Aldana-Gómez & R. Vilgalys. 2001. Assessing biogeographic relationships between North American and Chinese macrofungi. Journal of Biogeography 28: 271-281 (2001).

Buyck, B., R. Aldana-Gomez , M. Floriani, and others. Russulales News (webpage). In prep.