Francisco F. Pedroche Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM-Iztapalapa) Professor Departamento de Hidrobiología División Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud Apdo. Postal 55-535 México, D.F. 09340, MEXICO ffp@xanum.uam.mx University & Jepson Herbaria Research Associate 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building, # 2465 Berkeley, CA 94720-2465, USA pedroche@snowy.qal.berkeley.edu

My Licenciatura (Bachelor) thesis was a survey of the marine algae of the coast of Jalisco along Mexico's tropical Pacific coast. While I was writing my thesis, I was invited by two prominent phycologists: Paul C. Silva and John A. West, to join them in a field trip to the state of Guerrero, Mexico. Dr. Silva was very interested in finding a bizarre green algae of the genus Codium which he knew was a new species . Paul's enthusiasm and fascination for this genus of algae was so strong that I got engaged in the study of Codium. Floristics, systematics and biogeography of tropical marine algae are my main interest.

In 1980 I had the opportunity to travel along the coast of El Salvador, Central America and collect specimens of Codium and a closely related genus Halimeda. These collections were the foundation for my Masters Dissertation. In 1983 when I finished the credits of the Doctoral Program at the UNAM, the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM) hired me as a full time professor (faculty position). From 1985 to 1990, administrative duties were also in my path (Undergraduate Advisor; Assistant Dean of Biological Sciences & Health Division, and Chairman of the Hydrobiology Department). In 1993 I came to Berkeley to finish my doctoral dissertation titled: "Systematics of the genus Codium in the Pacific coast of Mexico". A side project has been concluded since then: a catalog of the benthic marine algae in the same region. At the end of this year I will go back to my University, receive my doctoral degree, and afterwards work with the Berkeley team in a global monograph of Codium.

Special interests in phycology: morphology, taxonomy, geographic distribution, nomenclature and evolution of marine green algae.

Selected Publications:

Pedroche, F.F., K.M. Dreckmann, A. Sentíes G. y R. Margain-Hernández. (1993). Diversidad algal en México. Revista de la Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural. vol. esp. 44: 69-92.

West, J.A., G.C. Zuccarello, F.F. Pedroche y U. Karsten. (1994). Caloglossa apomeiotica sp. nov. (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) from Pacific Mexico. Botanica Marina 37: 381-390.

Pedroche, F.F., J.A. West, G. C. Zuccarello, A. Sentíes G. y U. Karsten. (1995). Marine red algae of the mangroves in southern Pacific México and Pacific Guatemala. Botanica Marina 38(2): 111-119.

Pedroche, F.F. y Avila Ortíz. (1996). Aspectos morfológicos vegetativos y reproductivos de Dermonema (Rhodophyceae: Liagoraceae) en México. Acta Botánica Mexicana 34: 63-80.

Pedroche, F.F. y P.C. Silva. (1996). Codium picturatum sp. nov. (Chlorophyta), una especie extraordinaria del Pacífico tropical mexicano. Acta Botánica Mexicana 35: 1-8.