Initially his interest in botany was focused on trees, working for three years in the arboretum of the University. He graduated in December 1978 and continued his postgraduate study at the University of Florida, after working for two years at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, where his interest in Amaryllidaceae was stimulated. His master's thesis, in 1983, was on the taxonomy of the genus Eucharis. He continued with the same subject in his doctoral studies, producing his thesis entitled "A Monograph of Eucharis and Caliphruria (Amaryllidaceae)" in 1986.
He then moved to the University of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center where he was a palm and tropical ornamental specialist. As well as carrying out research on the phylogeny and taxonomy of the Amaryllidaceae, he bred Hippeastrum and other ornamental species. In 1998 the International Bulb Society awarded him the Herbert Medal in recognition of his contributions to the knowledge of bulbous plants.[1]
From October 1999 until July 2019, he was located at the National Germplasm Repository of the United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), based in Miami, working on the conservation, genetics, systematics, characterization, and breeding of species of subtropical and tropical ornamentals.[2][3] In 2005, the American Society of Plant Taxonomists awarded him the Peter Raven Award for Scientific Outreach.[4] In 2017, he was awarded the David Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration by the National Tropical Botanical Garden. Upon retirement from USDA, Meerow became a Research Fellow of the Montgomery Botanical Center in Coral Gables, FL, and is an adjunct professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University.
Meerow has published over 250 scientific papers, numerous magazine and university extension articles, and is the author or co-author of three popular books on palms.
Meerow, Alan W.; Reveal, James L.; Snijman, Deirdre A.; Dutilh, Julie H. (November 2007). "(1793) Proposal to conserve the name Amaryllidaceae against Alliaceae, a "superconservation" proposal". Taxon. 56 (4): 1299–1300. doi:10.2307/25065925. JSTOR25065925.
Roncal, J.; Couderc, M.; Baby, P.; Kahn, F.; Millán, B.; Meerow, A. W.; Pintaud, J-C. (2015). "Palm diversification in two geologically contrasting regions of western Amazonia". Journal of Biogeography. 42 (8): 1503–1513. doi:10.1111/jbi.12518. S2CID83703325.
Jestrow, B.; Peguero, B.; Jiménez, F.; Cinea, W.; Hass, M.; Reeve, A.; Meerow, A.W.; Griffith, M.P.; Maunder, M.; Francisco-Ortega, J. (2016). "Genetic diversity and differentiation of the Critically Endangered Hispaniolan palm Coccothrinax jimenezii MM Mejía & RG García based on novel SSR markers". Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 66: 216–223. doi:10.1016/j.bse.2016.04.013.
Meerow, A. W.; Salas-Leiva, D.; Francisco-Ortega, J.; Griffith, P.; Calonje, M.; Stevenson, D.; Nakamura, K. (2017). "Phylogeography and conservation genetics of the Caribbean Zamia clade: an integrated systematic approach with SSRs and single copy nuclear genes". Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden. 32: 309–322. doi:10.1111/1442-1984.12158.
Meerow, A. W.; Gideon, M.; Nakamura, K. (2017). "Hybridization between ecotypes in a phenotypically and ecologically heterogeneous population of Iris savannarum (Iridaceae) in Florida". Plant Species Biology. 32 (4): 309–322. doi:10.1111/1442-1984.12158.
Campos-Rocha, A.; Meerow, A.W.; Semir, J.; Dutilh, J.H.A. (2017). "A new species of Griffinia (Amaryllidaceae) from Espírito Santo state, Brazil, and reassessment of Griffinia concinna". Phytotaxa. 327 (2): 175–183. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.327.2.6.
Iglesias-Andreu, L.G.; Octavio-Aguilar, P.; Vovides, A.P.; Meerow, A.W.; de Cáceres-González, F.N.; Galván-Hernández, D.M. (2017). "Extinction risk of Zamia inermis (Zamiaceae): a genetic approach for the conservation of its single natural population". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 178 (9): 715–723. doi:10.1086/694080. S2CID90842769.
Jestrow, B., Peguero, B., Jiménez, F., Verdecia, R., González-Oliva, L., Moya, C.E., Cinea, W., Griffith, M.P., Meerow, A.W., Maunder, M. and Francisco-Ortega, J., 2017. A conservation framework for the Critically Endangered endemic species of the Caribbean palm Coccothrinax. Oryx, pp. 1–12. doi:10.1017/S0030605317000588..
Meerow, A.W., Reed, S.T., Dunn, C. and Schnell, E., 2017. Fragrance analysis of two scented Hippeastrum species. HortScience 52: 1853–1860.
Campos-Rocha, A., A. W. Meerow & J. H. A. Dutilh. 2018. Two new critically endangered species of Hippeastrum (Amaryllidaceae) from the Brazilian Cerrado. Phytotaxa 360: 91–102.
de Lima, N.E., Carvalho, A. A., Meerow, A. W. and Manfrin, M. H. 2018. A review of the palm genus Acrocomia: Neotropical green gold. Organism Diversity and Evolution 18: 151–161.
Data related to Meerow at Wikispecies
