Skip to main content

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Menu Search


Trinity College Dublin By using this website you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with the Trinity cookie policy. For more information on cookies see our cookie policy.

      
Profile Photo

Dr. Peter Moonlight

Assistant Professor (Botany)
      
Profile Photo

Dr. Peter Moonlight

Assistant Professor (Botany)

 


Peter is a botanist with a specialism in tropical plants and plant identification. Like many budding biologists, he suffered from "plant blindness" as a child but during his time at University came to appreciate the vast diversity of plants on our planet and the incalculable ways they influence everything that happens around us. Peter joined Trinity College Dublin as Assistant Professor in Botany and Assistant Herbarium Curator in November 2022. Peter began to specialise on the genus Begonia during his masters and continued to work on the genus during PhD. He now focusses on the taxonomy and systematics of Andean Begonia species and the adaption of several Andean Begonias to specialist pollination syndromes, including hummingbird and buzz pollination. His two major postdoctoral positions focussed on developing methods and building networks for monitoring Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests with permanent monitoring plots, which are fundamental to our understanding of how these underappreciated ecosystems react to and influence global climate. His experience in taxonomy and forest monitoring give him a unique perspective on how systematists and forest ecologists could work together to improve the quality and quantity of tropical tree identifications available to both fields. He is currently applying for funding to build a "next generation" pipeline for tree identification in the tropics.
Details Date
Guest Editor for a special issue on Big Plant Genera for the Annals of Botany 2025
Trinity College Dublin Representitive on AINSC (the All-Island Natural Sciences Consortium) 2024 to present
Secretary of the Types Committee of the Nomenclature Section of the International Botanical Congress June 2025 to June 2029
World Flora Online Council Member March 2024 to Present
Regular Reviewer for Journals including Annales Botanici Fennici (2026-), Nature Communications (2025-), Annals of Botany (2025-), Nordic Journal of Botany (2025-), Journal of Tropical Biodiversity and Biotechnology (2025-), Journal of Forestry Research (2025-), Journal of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (2025-), Phytotaxa (2025-), Taxon (2024-), New Phytologist (2024-), Royal Society Proceedings B (2024-), Oryx (2024-), Phytokeys (2024-)
Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
Portuguese Medium Medium Medium
Spanish Medium Medium Medium
Details Date From Date To
Fellow of the Linnean Society 2020 Present
Secretary of the Types Committee Nomenclature Section of the International Botanical Congress 2025 Present
All-Ireland Natural Sciences Consortium 2023 Present
World Flora Online Council Member 2024 Present
World Flora Online Taxonomic Expert Network: Boraginales 2024 Present
World Flora Online Taxonomic Expert Network: Begoniaceae 2020 Present
World Flora Online Taxonomic Expert Network: Tropaeolaceae 2025 Present
Baldaszti, L., Gagnon, E., Moonlight, P.W., Lehmann, C.E.R., Sarkinen, T., No evidence for the niche breadth"range size hypothesis in big plant genera, Annals of Botany, 2026, pmcag006 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Joao MB Carreiras, Thomas Higginbottom, John L Godlee, Sam Harrison, Lorena Benitez, Penelope J Mograbi, Aurora Levesley, Karina Melgaço, David Milodowski, Georgia Pickavance, Geoff Wells, Edmar Almeida De Oliveira, Luzmila Arroyo, Sam Bowers, Roel JW Brienen, Domingos Cardoso, António Alberto Jorge Farias Castro, Ezequiel Chavez, Ítalo AC Coutinho, Tomás F Domingues, Fernando Elias, Mário Marcos Espírito Santo, Ted R Feldpausch, David Galbraith, Emanuel Gloor, Francisco MP Gonçalves, Tatenda Gotore, Francoise Yoko Ishida, Timothy J Killeen, Yadvinder Malhi, Beatriz S Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon-Júnior, Desirée Marques Ramos, Simone Matias de Almeida Reis, Ian McNicol, Edward TA Mitchard, Peter Moonlight, Paulo S Morandi, Patricia Morellato, Anderson Muchawona, Jonathan Muledi, Alejandro Murakami, Mylor Ngoy Shutcha, Paula Nieto-Quintano, Alexander Parada-Gutierrez, Nayane Cristina Candida dos Santos Prestes, Luciano Paganucci De Queiroz, Priscyla MS Rodrigues, Jhonathan Oliveira Silva, Rubens M Santos, Tiina Särkinen, Domingos Fortunato PF Silva, Tony C de Sousa Oliveira, Marc Steininger, José Tchamba, Elmar Veenendaal, Débora Zuanny, Tim R Baker, Kyle G Dexter, Gabriele Hegerl, R Toby Pennington, Oliver L Phillips, Stephen Sitch, Mathew Williams, Shaun Quegan, Casey M Ryan, Determinants of L-band backscatter in dry tropical ecosystems: Implications for biomass mapping, Remote Sensing of Environment, 34, 2026, p115213 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
The World Flora Online Consortium, World Flora Online Plant List June 2025, June 2025, The World Flora Online, 2025, Dataset, PUBLISHED  DOI
Ludwig Baldaszti, Tiina Särkinen, Neil Brummitt, Domingos Cardoso, Sandra Knapp, Débora Zuanny, Peter W Moonlight, On the geography of big plant genera, Annals of Botany, mcaf159, 2025, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Mateus C Silva, Peter Moonlight, Rafael S Oliveira, Lucy Rowland, R Toby Pennington, COSST: A tool to facilitate seed provenancing for climate"smart ecosystem restoration, Journal of Applied Ecology, 2025, p677 - 688, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
International Tree Mortality Network, Cornelius Senf, Adriane Esquivel"Muelbert, Thomas AM Pugh, William RL Anderegg, Kristina J Anderson"Teixeira, Gabriel Arellano, Mirela Beloiu Schwenke, Barbara J Bentz, Hans Juergen Boehmer, Ben Bond"Lamberty, Kauane Maiara Bordin, Francis Q Brearley, Filippo Bussotti, Maxime Cailleret, J Julio Camarero, Gherardo Chirici, Flavia RC Costa, Ricardo Dalagnol, Hendrik Davi, Stuart J Davies, Sylvain Delzon, Bishnu Prasad Dhakal, Renato A Ferreira de Lima, Marco Ferretti, Joseph B Fontaine, Matteo Garbarino, André Luís de Gasper, Arthur Gessler, Gregory S Gilbert, John L Godlee, Francisco Maiato Pedro Gonçalves, Leen Govaere, Alvaro G Gutiérrez, Ernesto Gómez Cardozo, William M Hammond, Henrik Hartmann, Martina L Hobi, Andrés Holz, Jürgen Homeier, Mark Joseph Hovenden, Cho"ying Huang, Bruno Hérault, Toby Jackson, Tommaso Jucker, Alistair S Jump, Samuli Junttila, Teja Kattenborn, Joice Klipel, Kotowska, Towards a global understanding of tree mortality, New Phytologist, 2025, p2377 - 2392, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Lucila Guillén, Peter W Moonlight, Orlando A Jara-Muñoz, María Sánchez de Stapf, Juan F Carrión, A new species of Begonia (Begoniaceae) from the eastern mountains of Panama, PhytoKeys, 256, 2025, p61 - 71, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Maria-Anna Vasile, Tim Böhnert, Julius Jeiter, Domingos Cardoso, Peter W Moonlight, Maximilian Weigend, An updated phylogeny of Boraginales based on the Angiosperms353 probe set: a roadmap for understanding morphological evolution, Annals of Botany, 2025, pmcaf061 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Martin JP Sullivan, Oliver L Phillips, David Galbraith, Everton Almeida, Edmar Almeida de Oliveira, Jarcilene Almeida, Esteban Álvarez Dávila, Luciana F Alves, Ana Andrade, Luiz Aragão, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Eric Arets, Luzmila Arroyo, Omar Aurelio Melo Cruz, Fabrício Baccaro, Timothy R Baker, Olaf Banki, Christopher Baraloto, Jos Barlow, Jorcely Barroso, Erika Berenguer, Lilian Blanc, Cecilia Blundo, Damien Bonal, Frans Bongers, Kauane Maiara Bordin, Roel JW Brienen, Igor S Broggio, Benoit Burban, George Cabral, José Luís Camargo, Domingos Cardoso, Maria Antonia Carniello, Wendeson Castro, Haroldo Cavalcante de Lima, Larissa Cavalheiro, Sabina Cerruto Ribeiro, Sonia Cesarina Palacios Ramos, Victor Chama Moscoso, Jerôme Chave, Fernanda Coelho, James A Comiskey, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Flávia Costa, Italo Antônio Cotta Coutinho, Antonio Carlos Lola da Costa, Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros, Jhon del Aguila Pasquel, Géraldine Derroire, Kyle G Dexter, Mat Disney, Mário M do Espírito Santo, Tomas F Domingues, Aurélie Dourdain, Alvaro Duque, Cristabel Durán Rangel, Fernando Elias, Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert, William Farfan-Rios, Sophie Fauset, Ted Feldpausch, G Wilson Fernandes, Joice Ferreira, Yule Roberta Ferreira Nunes, João Carlos Gomes Figueiredo, Karina Garcia Cabreara, Roy Gonzalez, Lionel Hernández, Rafael Herrera, Eurídice N Honorio Coronado, Walter Huaraca Huasco, Mariana Iguatemy, Carlos A Joly, Michelle Kalamandeen, Timothy Killeen, Joice Klipel, Bente Klitgaard, Susan G Laurance, William F Laurance, Aurora Levesley, Simon L Lewis, Maurício Lima Dan, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez, William Magnusson, Yadvinder Malhi, Lucio Malizia, Augustina Malizia, Angelo Gilberto Manzatto, Jose Luis Marcelo Peña, Beatriz S Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon Junior, Johanna Andrea Martínez-Villa, Simone Matias Reis, Thiago Metzker, William Milliken, Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza, Peter Moonlight, Paulo S Morandi, Pamela Moser, Sandra C Müller, Marcelo Nascimento, Daniel Negreiros, Adriano Nogueira Lima, Percy Núñez Vargas, Washington L Oliveira, Walter Palacios, Nadir C Pallqui Camacho, Alexander Parada Gutierrez, Guido Pardo Molina, Karla Maria Pedra de Abreu, Marielos Peña-Claros, Pablo José Francisco Pena Rodrigues, R Toby Pennington, Georgia C Pickavance, John Pipoly, Nigel CA Pitman, Maureen Playfair, Aline Pontes-Lopes, Lourens Poorter, Nayane Cristina Candida dos Santos Prestes, Hirma Ramírez-Angulo, Maxime Réjou-Méchain, Carlos Reynel Rodriguez, Gonzalo Rivas-Torres, Priscyla MS Rodrigues, Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues, Thaiane Rodrigues de Sousa, José Roberto Rodrigues Pinto, Gina M Rodriguez M, Katherine Roucoux, Kalle Ruokolainen, Casey M Ryan, Norma Salinas Revilla, Rafael Salomão, Rubens M Santos, Tiina Sarkinen, Andressa Scabin, Rodrigo Scarton Bergamin, Juliana Schietti, Milton Serpa de Meira Junior, Julio Serrano, Miles Silman, Richarlly C Silva, Camila VJ Silva, Jhonathan Oliveria Silva, Marcos Silveira, Marcelo F Simon, Yahn Carlos Soto-Shareva, Priscila Souza, Rodolfo Souza, Variation in wood density across South American tropical forests, Nature Communications, (16), 2025, p2351 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Sami W Rifai, Xiongjie Deng, Hans Ter Steege, Eleanor Thomson, Jose Javier Corral-Rivas, Aretha Franklin Guimaraes, Sandra Muller, Joice Klipel, Sophie Fauset, Angelica F Resende, Göran Wallin, Carlos A Joly, Katharine Abernethy, Stephen Adu-Bredu, Celice Alexandre Silva, Edmar Almeida de Oliveira, Danilo RA Almeida, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Gregory P Asner, Timothy R Baker, Maíra Benchimol, Lisa Patrick Bentley, Erika Berenguer, Lilian Blanc, Damien Bonal, Kauane Bordin, Robson Borges de Lima, Sabine Both, Jaime Cabezas Duarte, Domingos Cardoso, Haroldo C de Lima, Larissa Cavalheiro, Lucas A Cernusak, Nayane Cristina C dos Santos Prestes, Antonio Carlos da Silva Zanzini, Ricardo José da Silva, Robson dos Santos Alves da Silva, Mariana de Andrade Iguatemy, Tony César De Sousa Oliveira, Benjamin Dechant, Géraldine Derroire, Kyle G Dexter, Domingos J Rodrigues, Mário Espírito-Santo, Letícia Fernandes Silva, Tomas Ferreira Domingues, Joice Ferreira, Marcelo Fragomeni Simon, Cécile AJ Girardin, Bruno Hérault, Kathryn J Jeffery, Sreejith Kalpuzha Ashtamoorthy, Arunkumar Kavidapadinjattathil Sivadasan, Bente Klitgaard, William F Laurance, Maurício Lima Dan, William E Magnusson, Eduardo Malta Campos-Filho, Rubens Manoel dos Santos, Angelo Gilberto Manzatto, Marcos Silveira, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior, Roberta E Martin, Daniel Luis Mascia Vieira, Thiago Metzker, William Milliken, Peter Moonlight, Marina Maria Moraes de Seixas, Paulo S Morandi, Robert Muscarella, María Guadalupe Nava-Miranda, Brigitte Nyirambangutse, Jhonathan Oliveira Silva, Imma Oliveras Menor, Pablo José Francisco Pena Rodrigues, Cinthia Pereira de Oliveira, Lucas Pereira Zanzini, Carlos A Peres, Vignesh Punjayil, Carlos A Quesada, Maxime Réjou-Méchain, Terhi Riutta, Gonzalo Rivas-Torres, Clarissa Rosa, Norma Salinas, Rodrigo Scarton Bergamin, Beatriz Schwantes Marimon, Alexander Shenkin, Priscyla Maria Silva Rodrigues, Axa Emanuelle Simões Figueiredo, Queila Souza Garcia, Tereza Spósito, Danielle Storck-Tonon, Martin JP Sullivan, Martin Svátek, Wagner Tadeu Vieira Santiago, Yit Arn Teh, Prasad Theruvil Parambil Sivan, Marcelo Trindade Nascimento, Elmar Veenendaal, Irie Casimir Zo-Bi, Marie Ruth Dago, Soulemane Traoré, Marco Patacca, Vincyane Badouard, Samuel de Padua Chaves e Carvalho, Lee JT White, Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng, Etienne Zibera, Joeri Alexander Zwerts, David FRP Burslem, Miles Silman, Jérôme Chave, Brian J Enquist, Jos Barlow, Oliver L Phillips, David A Coomes, Yadvinder Malhi, Canopy functional trait variation across Earth"s tropical forests, Nature, 2025, p1 - 8, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

Page 1 of 5
Peter W Moonlight, Trinity College Dublin Herbarium, v.1.72, Global Biodiversity Information Facility, 2026, Dataset, PUBLISHED
Renata C Asprino, André M Amorim, Domingos Cardoso, Peter Moonlight, Extraordinary tree species richness and carbon storage in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, Revista Jardin Botanico Nacional University Habana, XIII Congreso Latinoamericano de Botánica, Havanna, Cuba, 2025, 46, (1), 2025, pp104 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
The World Flora Online Consortium, World Flora Online Plant List December 2025, December 2025, World Flora Online, 2025, Dataset, PUBLISHED
Brhenda Santos Lozado, Cinthia Pereira de Oliveira, Alessandro de Paula, Patrícia AB Barreto-Garcia, Odair Lacerda Lemos, Ana Luisa Leite Pereira, Emanuel Araújo Silva, Rinaldo LC Ferreira, José A Aleixo da Silva, Frans Pareyn, Peter W Moonlight, Domingos Cardoso, Elmar Veenendaal, Luciano Paganucci de Queiroz, Priscyla MS Rodrigues, Rubens Manoel dos Santos, Tiina Sarkinen, Toby Pennington, Oliver L Phillips, Robson Borges de Lima, Thresholds of drought and terrain complexity shape biomass patterns in South America"s Caatinga, bioRxiv, 2025, p2025.11. 02.684225 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Peter Moonlight, Eliane Jacques de Lima, The identity and typification of the begonias from Vellozo"s Flora Fluminensis, 82, 2025, p1 - 40, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
The World Flora Online Consortium, World Flora Online Plant List December 2024, December 2024, World Flora Online, 2024, Dataset, PUBLISHED
The World Flora Online Consortium, World Flora Online Plant List June 2024, June 2024, The World Flora ONline, 2024, Dataset, PUBLISHED
Carlos Augusto Reynel Rodriguez, Tiina Elina Särkinen, Richard Toby Pennington, Asunción Alipio Cano Echevarría, David Jones Nicholas Hind, Peter Moonlight, Joaquina Adelaida Albán Castillo, Moisés Cavero Bravo, Terence Dale Pennington, Flores en el itinerario de Lima a la Selva Central del Perú (Valle de Chanchamayo), 2023, Book, PUBLISHED
Hughes M., Moonlight P.W., Jara-Muñoz A., Tebbitt M.C., Wilson H.P., Zhong K. & Pullan M., Begonia Resource Centre, 2015 (Continuously Updated), Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, 2023, Notes: [This is a dynamic database, with weekly updates and no archived versions, hence we recommend users personally archive any data cited or used.], Dataset, PUBLISHED
The World Flora ONline Consortium, World Flora Online Plant List December 2023, December 2023, The World Flora Online, 2023, Dataset, PUBLISHED

  


Page 1 of 2
Award Date
Fellow of the Linnean Society 22 October 2020