Irene Teixidor Toneu

Academic interests

Ethnobotany and ethnomedicine, cultural evolution and evolutionary medicine, biodiversity and biocultural conservation, inter-disciplinary approaches to study biocultural diversity.

Background

I am an ethnobotanist with experience in medicinal plant research and cross-cultural quantitative analysis of medical systems. I did my PhD as an Early Stage Researcher in the MSCA-ITN "MedPlant: Phylogenetic exploration of medicinal plant diversity" where I studied Amazigh medicinal plant use in Morocco. After, I contributed with ethnobiological research to sustainable development projects led by the Global Diversity Foundation in the Moroccan High Atlas. I aim to contribute to understanding the role of past and present cultures in shaping landscapes and biodiversity patterns, especially through their selection and use of medicinal plants. With this, I aim to have a positive impact by addressing issues of biodiversity conservation, food and health security, and provide recommendations to implement priority integrative biocultural conservation strategies.

Awards

• 2017 PhD Researcher of the Year, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Reading (UK) 

Positions held

• Postdoctoral fellow at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo (Norway)
• Research Consultant for the Global Diversity Foundation (non-profit organisation, UK & Morocco) 
  • https://www.global-diversity.org/team/irene-teixidor-toneu/
• Early Stage Researcher at the University of Reading (UK) - MSCA-ITN MedPlant "Phylogenetic exploration of medicinal plant diversity"
  • http://medplant.eu/staff/irene-teixidor/

Selected publications

See full publications here

Alqethami, A., Aldhebiani, A.Y., Teixidor-Toneu, I. 2020. Medicinal plants used in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: A gender perspective. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 257, 112899.

Miara, M.D., Bendif, H., Ouabed, A., Rebbas, K., Hammou, M.A., Amirat, M., Greene, A., Teixidor-Toneu, I. 2019. Ethnoveterinary remedies used in the Algerian steppe: Exploring the relationship with traditional human herbal medicine. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 244, 112164.

Teixidor-Toneu, I., Jordan, F.M., Hawkins, J.A. 2018. Comparative phylogenetic methods and the cultural evolution of medicinal plant use. Nature Plants, DOI 10.1038/s41477-018-0226-6.

Miara, M.D., Bendif, H., Ait Hammou, M., Teixidor-Toneu, I. 2018. Ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used by nomadic peoples in the Algerian steppe. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 219, 248-256.

Alqethami, A., Hawkins, J.A., Teixidor-Toneu, I. 2017. Medicinal plants used by women in Mecca: urban, Muslim and gendered knowledge. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 13:62.

Hawkins, J.A., Teixidor-Toneu, I. 2017. Defining ‘ethnobotanical convergence’. Trends in Plant Science, 22, 639-640.

Teixidor-Toneu, I., Martin, G.J., Puri, R.K., Ouhammou, A., Hawkins, J.A. 2017. Treating infants with frigg: Linking disease aetiologies, medicinal plant use and care-seeking behaviour in southern Morocco. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 13:4.

Teixidor-Toneu, I., Martin, G.J., Ouhammou, A., Puri, R.K., Hawkins, J.A., 2016. An ethnomedicinal survey of a Tashelhit-speaking community in the High Atlas, Morocco. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 188, 96-110.