Toby Pennington

Professor Toby Pennington is a Professor of Tropical Plant Diversity and Biogeography at the University of Exeter, Department of Geography. He holds a part-time position at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), where he previously served as Head of Tropical Diversity. His research focuses on plant biogeography, phylogenetics, and conservation, particularly in tropical dry forests and legume systematics. Pennington leads the DRYFLOR network, which inventories species in Neotropical dry forests and advocates for their conservation. He chairs the University's Global Challenges Research Fund Funder Advisory Network and contributes to international projects like SECO, addressing carbon dynamics in dry tropics.

Education: BA and DPhil in Botany from the University of Oxford.

Research Interests: Tropical biogeography, legume evolution, dry forest conservation, agroforestry solutions, and phylogenetic community assembly. His work bridges taxonomy, ecology, and conservation, emphasizing the role of legumes in ecosystem restoration and sustainable land use.

Recent research highlights include the discovery of over 6,900 woody plant species in Neotropical dry forests, published in Science, and the use of genomic tools to study hybridization in Amazonian trees. He supervises a global team of researchers and students, advancing projects in Brazil, Colombia, and beyond.

Grants and Collaborations: Funded by NERC, Newton Fund, BBSRC, and others. Projects include SECO (carbon dynamics), Nordeste (dry forest ecology), and agroforestry initiatives with Instituto Ouro Verde.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Global Systems Institute and Exeter Food Routes network, collaborating with institutions like RBGE, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and the University of Utah.