Chilean botanist. Alicia Marticorena was born in Concepción and studied biology at the University of Concepción, graduating in 1990 and 1991. She later received a master's degree in botany (1996) comprising a revision of the genus Acaena Mutis (Rosaceae) in Chile. The following year she began to work as an associate researcher for the project 'Nueva Flora de Chile' and in 2003 she became the editor for the publications of this project.
Marticorena's work focuses on the flora of Chile, both native and introduced, and she has collected extensively in her home country; including an expedition to the Desierto Florido in 1990, a trip to Taltal and Paposo which was commissioned by the seed bank of the Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA), Vicuña, in 2005 and two trips in 2006, one to temperate central Chile (Coquimbo to Maule) under the invitation of Pieter Pelser and Eric Tepe from Miami University, Ohio, U.S.A. and the other to the province of Aisén. She has published numerous taxonomic revisions spanning a range of families (Malvaceae, Zygophyllaceae, Rosaceae and Asteraceae), produced monographs of Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae (2002) and Hypericaceae and Malvaceae (2005) for the Flora of Chile and the Rosaceae and Chenopodiaceae for the Catalogue of Vascular Plants of the South Cone (2008).
Marticorena has also been involved in FONDECYT (the National Fund for Development in Science and Technology) sponsored projects concerning the analysis of invasive species and their spread, a field in which she has also published, authoring a work in 2007 that compared the alien species of Mediterranean ecosystems in Chile to those of California. Her administrative roles have included Secretary of the Chilean Society of Botany (2005-), editorial chief of the publication Gayana Botánica (2005-) and a member of the commission for the creation of a protected forest area: Fundo Nonguén in the region of Bío-Bío, Chile (2003-2004). As of 2008 she has been curator of the herbarium of the University of Concepción (CONC).
Sources:
Personal communication.
