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Ryan P. O’Donnell

@rpodonnell

Mycologist & botanist @EcoEvo_ANU | Orchids & their mycorrhizal fungi: phylogenomics, genomes, speciation, popgen, systematics & taxonomy | looking for a postdoc πŸ‘€ | rpodonnell.github.io πŸ„πŸŒΏπŸŒ·πŸ“–πŸ‡΅πŸ‡­πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆβˆž

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08.09.2023
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Latest posts by Ryan P. O’Donnell @rpodonnell

Thank you!

06.03.2026 23:15 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Revisions accepted, PhD is done and dusted! πŸŽ‰πŸ₯³

05.03.2026 20:50 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Unfortunately, they did not enjoy this pun.

27.02.2026 08:52 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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PhD accepted pending minor revisions! πŸŽ‰ more importantly, I’m stoked that my reviewers enjoyed my Moby Dick quotes πŸ‹

27.02.2026 08:42 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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After four years of work, I have finally submitted my PhD thesis. At long last, the low res fireworks gif now plays for me πŸŽ†

11.12.2025 03:31 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

like 50% of orchid pollination is horny male insects having their day ruined

18.01.2024 15:45 πŸ‘ 108 πŸ” 17 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 2
A scientific figure showing speciation and explaining the concept of species delimitation, and including a quote by the paper's first author.

A scientific figure showing speciation and explaining the concept of species delimitation, and including a quote by the paper's first author.

Check out the recent publication in Annual Reviews of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics where the authors explore genomic species delimitation in depth. You'll see a number of #sciart figures I created to help explain some of the concepts!

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

29.10.2025 13:00 πŸ‘ 80 πŸ” 22 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
New fungal phylum-level system, with red font indicating novel taxa and size taxonomic diversity.

New fungal phylum-level system, with red font indicating novel taxa and size taxonomic diversity.

Fungal phylum-level classification update now available! Used "innovative taxonomy" to describe >100 taxa, from species to phylum, based on long reads, characteristic nucleotides and env-samples.
mycokeys.pensoft.net/article/1616...

#fungi #taxonomy #PacBio #classification #eDNA

20.10.2025 17:27 πŸ‘ 24 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

I just passed my 50,000th identification on @inaturalist.bsky.social! Identifying is a huge but often ignored part of the #iNaturalist community and dataset so I wanted to share why and how I identify. 1/14

πŸ§ͺ #ecology #taxonomy #botany #CommunityScience

18.09.2025 20:52 πŸ‘ 122 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 4
Miyagawa Shuntei's 1898 painting, "Playing Go (Japanese Chess)"

Miyagawa Shuntei's 1898 painting, "Playing Go (Japanese Chess)"

How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go!

400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!

16.09.2025 14:04 πŸ‘ 108 πŸ” 45 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 9
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The pitfalls of rDNA‐based AMF identification: a comparative analysis of rDNA and protein‐coding genes Intragenomic polymorphism of rDNA in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has been largely overlooked in ecological and taxonomic studies, and the reliability of nuclear rDNA regions for species ident.....

Most of us use rDNA for community analyses of AM fungi. Intragenomic variation in rDNA of AM fungi can be pretty huge, depending on the region.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

17.09.2025 01:52 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Will phylogeny for food

12.09.2025 09:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Thanks to everyone who came along/tuned in to my PhD exit seminar! What a thing to do at the end of almost four years. So close to submitting, just need to tidy up this last chapter and I’m done! PS does anyone need a mycology/botany genomics/systematics postdoc? πŸ‘€

12.09.2025 09:27 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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A meme for #phylogenetics people.

10.09.2025 08:22 πŸ‘ 30 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

My final PhD exit seminar is fast approaching! Tune in if you’d like to hear what I’ve been up to the last four years. There’s something for everyone: fungal genomics and species delimitation (38 new Rhizoctonia genomes), orchid phylogenomics and popgen, fungal taxonomy, it’s gonna be fun πŸ€™

02.09.2025 23:27 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Would love to be added please!

02.09.2025 23:23 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

A lot of it comes down to the initial cost and time investment. It takes a lot to inoculate the trees and treat the soil so that it’s right, but it may be years before you will know whether your setup has worked successfully.

16.08.2025 13:30 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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E&E Seminar Series: A symphony of colour and scents: Complex anthocyanin and terpene synthase mechanisms underpin the evolution of species-rich Australian orchids Many flowering plants have evolved diverse strategies to communicate with and attract animal pollinators. We have discovered exciting new evidence for the role of anthocyanins and terpenes in the evol...

Join us on campus & online on Thursday, 31 July 2025 at 1pm for a seminar by Dr Darren Wong, Postdoctoral Fellow from the Peakall Group, RSB, ANU. Details: tiny.cc/gizp001

22.07.2025 05:07 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Would love to be added, thanks!

19.07.2025 13:23 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks @westerdijkinst.bsky.social !

11.07.2025 08:46 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
A red flower on a green stem withe the words: BHL Call for support now open overlayed.

A red flower on a green stem withe the words: BHL Call for support now open overlayed.

πŸ“’ The #BiodiversityHeritageLibrary is entering a bold new chapter – and we need your help! Today we release our official Call for Support. We’re seeking new hosts for BHL’s staff, infrastructure, and services. Learn more: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2025/06/tran... #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL

11.06.2025 17:05 πŸ‘ 85 πŸ” 86 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 12

In an unconscionable decision, the Smithsonian Institute has decided to no longer support the Biodiversity Heritage Library from 1 Jan 2026. Please someone step up and take it over.

02.07.2025 15:56 πŸ‘ 592 πŸ” 405 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 37
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Unicore Enables Scalable and Accurate Phylogenetic Reconstruction with Structural Core Genes Abstract. The analysis of single-copy core genes, common to most members of a clade, is important for key tasks in biology including phylogenetic reconstru

so cool! academic.oup.com/gbe/article/... Nice work @martinsteinegger.bsky.social et al :)

19.06.2025 19:03 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

We argue that the continued use of anamorph/teleomorph-typified generic names in #Ceratobasidiaceae hinders a holistic understanding of this family, when it is clear that pathogenic and symbiotic species are likely united in their fundamental biology.

24.06.2025 11:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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We also found a distinct difference in the way certain names are used in the literature: pathogen researchers are more likely to use Rhizoctonia and Thanatephorus; while orchid mycorrhizal researchers are more likely to use Ceratobasidium and Ceratorhiza.

24.06.2025 11:13 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Names transferred to #Rhizoctonia include species formerly circumscribed within #Ceratobasidium, #Ceratorhiza, #Moniliopsis, #Thanatephorus, #Tofispora, and #Ypsilonidium (among other synonyms).

24.06.2025 11:04 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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We reiterate the fact that the genera within Ceratobasidiaceae are paraphyletic, and formalise the recognition of a single genus; Rhizoctonia. We present 32 new combinations, to make a total of 52 accepted species of Rhizoctonia.

24.06.2025 11:01 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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At long last, our manuscript β€˜Rise up, Rhizoctonia: moving to one fungus, one name in the Ceratobasidiaceae’ has finally been published in Persoonia πŸŽ‰
Here we resolve several longstanding taxonomic issues within Ceratobasidiaceae and present a unified Rhizoctonia
www.persoonia.org/images/Volum...

24.06.2025 10:54 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

#mycosky #mycology bluesky! I’m looking for some inspiration - what are some of your favourite recent (published within the last 1–3 years) fungal comparative phylogenomic studies that you’ve read?

11.05.2025 23:36 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0