Thank you!
@rpodonnell
Mycologist & botanist @EcoEvo_ANU | Orchids & their mycorrhizal fungi: phylogenomics, genomes, speciation, popgen, systematics & taxonomy | looking for a postdoc π | rpodonnell.github.io ππΏπ·ππ΅ππ³οΈβπβ
Thank you!
Revisions accepted, PhD is done and dusted! ππ₯³
Unfortunately, they did not enjoy this pun.
PhD accepted pending minor revisions! π more importantly, Iβm stoked that my reviewers enjoyed my Moby Dick quotes π
After four years of work, I have finally submitted my PhD thesis. At long last, the low res fireworks gif now plays for me π
like 50% of orchid pollination is horny male insects having their day ruined
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...
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
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
π§ͺ #ecology #taxonomy #botany #CommunityScience
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!
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/...
Will phylogeny for food
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 Iβm done! PS does anyone need a mycology/botany genomics/systematics postdoc? π
A meme for #phylogenetics people.
My final PhD exit seminar is fast approaching! Tune in if youβd like to hear what Iβve been up to the last four years. Thereβs something for everyone: fungal genomics and species delimitation (38 new Rhizoctonia genomes), orchid phylogenomics and popgen, fungal taxonomy, itβs gonna be fun π€
Would love to be added please!
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 itβs right, but it may be years before you will know whether your setup has worked successfully.
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
Would love to be added, thanks!
Thanks @westerdijkinst.bsky.social !
A red flower on a green stem withe the words: BHL Call for support now open overlayed.
π’ The #BiodiversityHeritageLibrary is entering a bold new chapter β and we need your help! Today we release our official Call for Support. Weβre seeking new hosts for BHLβs staff, infrastructure, and services. Learn more: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2025/06/tran... #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL
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.
so cool! academic.oup.com/gbe/article/... Nice work @martinsteinegger.bsky.social et al :)
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.
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.
Names transferred to #Rhizoctonia include species formerly circumscribed within #Ceratobasidium, #Ceratorhiza, #Moniliopsis, #Thanatephorus, #Tofispora, and #Ypsilonidium (among other synonyms).
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.
At long last, our manuscript βRise up, Rhizoctonia: moving to one fungus, one name in the Ceratobasidiaceaeβ has finally been published in Persoonia π
Here we resolve several longstanding taxonomic issues within Ceratobasidiaceae and present a unified Rhizoctonia
www.persoonia.org/images/Volum...
#mycosky #mycology bluesky! Iβm looking for some inspiration - what are some of your favourite recent (published within the last 1β3 years) fungal comparative phylogenomic studies that youβve read?