Dr Joeri Sergej Strijk is Director and Senior Researcher at the Alliance for Conservation Tree Genomics which conducts floristic, ecological and conservation research across tropical Southeast Asia.

He joins the Editorial board of Phytokeys as Subject editor for Fagales – the plant order best known for groups such as Beeches, Oaks, Chestnuts, Walnuts and Birches. Less well known is that much of the generic and species diversity of the order is concentrated in the (sub-)tropics, with hotspots in the US and Mexico (Juglandaceae, Fagaceae), (Austral-)Asia (Casuarinaceae, Fagaceae, Juglandaceae) and the Neotropics (Fagaceae, Juglandaceae, Ticodendraceae). Other families have more broad (Betulaceae, Myricaceae) or disjunct distributions (Nothofagaceae).

Focusing on the orders’ largest group of Fagales (Fagaceae), he has been working on the floristics, systematics and conservation of Asian Fagaceae, setting up a dedicated web portal (www.asianfagaceae.com), and resolving taxonomic challenges in the family (https://about.worldfloraonline.org/tens/fagaceae).

"I am delighted to have been invited by PhytoKeys to join the editorial team, and I look forward to continuing the high standards of quality, rigor, and integrity of research set by the Journal. Providing a platform for high-quality taxonomic research is more important than ever, as species and ecosystems face unprecedented threats. I strongly support the Journal’s aim to accelerate and publish integrative taxonomic studies, combining morphology, molecular data, ecology, and genomics, which is essential to track, understand, and protect species through global environmental changes.”