Zach is mentioned in this article in The Chronicle about the discovery of Teloschistes chr
ysophthalmus and other species in Connecticut.
Frye H.A., Z. Muscavitch & B. Goffinet. 2021. Discovery of epiphytic lichens in Connecticut suggest novel introduction and reintroduction via horticultural practices. The Bryologist 124: 191–197. https://doi.org/10.1639/0007-2745-124.2.191
Patel N., R. Medina, M. Johnson & B. Goffinet. 2021. Karyotypic diversity and cryptic speciation: Have we vastly underestimated moss species diversity? Bryophyte Diversity and Evolution 43: 150–163. https://doi.org/10.11646/bde.43.1.12
Abstract reads: Karyotypic diversity is critical to catalyzing change in the evolution of all plants. By resulting in meiotic incompatibility among sets of homologous chromosomes, polyploidy and aneuploidy may facilitate reproductive isolation and the potential for speciation. Across plants, karyotypic variants in the form of allopolyploids receive greater taxonomic attention relative to autopolyploids and aneuploids. In particular, the prevalence and significance of autopolyploidy and aneuploidy in bryophytes is little understood. Using Fritsch’s 1991 compendium of bryophyte karyotypes with augmentation from karyological studies published since, we have quantified the prevalence of karyotypic variants among ~1500 extant morphological species of mosses. We assessed the phylogenetic distribution of karyological data, the frequency of autopolyploidy and aneuploidy, and the methodological correlates with karyotypic diversity. At least two ploidy levels were recorded from 17% of species potentially increasing current taxonomic diversity of mosses to over 15,000 species. We find that for a given species, the number of unique karyotypes recorded is correlated with the number of populations sampled. The evidence suggests that cytological diversity likely underlies yet undescribed species diversity in mosses, and that intensive karyological sampling is a needed tool for its discovery.
Cole T.C.H., H.H. Hilger, J.B. Bachelier, B. Goffinet, P.F. Stevens, N.M. Shiyan, S.L. Zhygalova & S.L. Mosyakin. Spanning the Globe – The Plant Phylogeny Poster (PPP) Project. Ukrainian Botanical Journal: Short Communication 78(3): 235–241. https://doi.org/10.15407/ukrbotj78.03.235
Abstract reads: Historically, wallcharts and posters created by botanical illustrators, often highly skilled artists, have played an important role in teaching botany at the university level. Large-scale panels and posters can visualize complex interrelationships and entire stories in a clear and appealing overview in graphs, tables, and diagrams. Carrying this concept of educational tools into the electronic era, the Plant Phylogeny Poster project uses this approach for displaying evolutionary relationships in systematic botany. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Poster (APP) displays, as phylogenetically arranged clades, the orders and families of flowering plants (with orders hyperlinked to APweb, Stevens, 2001–onwards), the Tracheophyte Phylogeny Poster (TPP) families and genera of ferns and gymnosperms, and the Bryophyte Phylogeny Poster (BPP) orders and families of liverworts, mosses, and hornworts. The portfolio currently also includes about 30 posters on individual orders and families of angiosperms. Each group within these evolutionary trees is matched with essentially relevant morphological features, biogeographic occurrences, and other information in compactly condensed text blocks. All posters are freely available online, some in more than 30 languages, coauthored by a team of more than 130 botanists. The posters are regularly updated, current literature is cited. The project is expanding steadily and rapidly.
Rafael Medina, a former postdoc in our lab, lead-authored the paper: Medina, R., M.G. Johnson, Y. Liu, N.J. Wickett, A.J. Shaw & B. Goffinet. 2019. “Phylogenomic delineation of Physcomitrium (Bryophyta: Funariaceae) based on targeted sequencing of nuclear exons and their flanking regions rejects the retention of Physcomitrella, Physcomitridium and Aphanorrhegma” and published in the Journal of Systematics and Evolution 57: 404–417 in 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.12516
In 2019, this publication earned the Special issue paper award from the Journal of Systematics and Evolution.
In 2021, the journal awarded him, for this publication, the “JSE Outstanding Paper by Young Investigators Award”, which will be announced in the latest issue of 2021.
Rafa is now a faculty member at the University of Madrid.
Congratulations Rafa.
Congratulations to Zach who was awarded the ABLS 2021 Culberson and Hale award ($1,000) for field research in lichenology ($1,000) from ABLS (American Bryological and Lichenological Society) for field work in Mexico, based on his proposal entitled “The search for Niebla & Trebouxia: a lichenologist goes south”. Enjoy the trip!
Zach Muscavitch was awarded a $3,000 grant from the Society of Systematic Biologists for a component of his dissertation research entitled “Uncovering the evolution of reciprocal specificity in the Trebouxia (alga)-Nie
bla (fungus) lichen association” Congratulations Zach.
The publication of the study revealing the presence of (re)introduced lichenized fungi in CT, based on populations present on the university campus (Frye H.A., Z. Muscavitch & B. Goffinet. 2021. Discovery of epiphytic lichens in Connecticut suggests novel introduction and reintroduction via horticultural practices. The Bryologist 124: 191–197. pdf, see post) prompted an article “Ecologists are ‘Lichen’ a Surprising New Find on Campus” in UCONN today.
Welcome back! Dr. Antoine Simon, who has visited UCONN and our lab during his MSc and Ph.D. is coming back! Antoine was awarded a fellowship from the Belgian American Education foundation to spend one year here, and further explore the evolution of lichenized fungi!
Some of the publications emerging from his recent work:
Frye H.A., Z. Muscavitch & B. Goffinet. 2021. Discovery of epiphytic lichens in Connecticut suggests novel introduction and reintroduction via horticultural practices. The Bryologist 124: 191–197. pdf
Abstract reads: The discovery of Teloschistes chrysophthalmus in Connecticut more than one hundred years since its last known occurrence is argued to result from human introduction. The species only occurred on the horticultural tree, Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis, planted on the 
University of Connecticut campus. Gleditsia triacanthos is not indigenous to northeastern North America but is widespread in the central United States. Other epiphytic macrolichens also recorded on this phorophyte include Punctelia bolliana and Parmotrema austrosinense, both widespread in the central United States, and new to Connecticut and New England, respectively. This is likely the first reported case of combined introductions of lichenized fungi in North America through the import of ornamental trees.
DOUBLE congratulations to Zach Muscavitch, co-advised by Drs. Louise Lewis and B. Goffinet for his recent grant of $500 from the Northeast Algal Society to explore the hidden diversity of the green algal genus Trebouxia lichenized with fungi of the Ramalinaceae, AND of $1,200 from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists to explore specificity in the association between the species of fungal symbiont (i.e., Niebla s. lat.) and its algal partner of the genus Trebouxia .