Phylogenetic systematics and ecology
- Phylogenetic relationships of litter- and wood-decaying basidiomycetes and the evolution of various nutritional modes: wood decay types, ectomycorrhizae, and parasitism of bacteria, nematodes and other microfauna
-
Systematics of selected groups of fungi such as Hohenbuehelia, Resupinatus, Merismodes, Exidia and other cool fungi that folks bring me.
Biodiversity
Discovering some of the "missing" fungal diversity (the difference between the approximately 300,000 species of fungi described to date and the 1,500,000 which have been speculated to exist)
Carolinian Agaricomycetes
: compiling and confirming the records of mushroom fungi from the Carolinian Zone, and adding new records by traditional collecting of fruiting bodies and metagenomics of DNA extracted from soil
Determining the functional significance of fungal diversity in litter decay and the soil ecosystem, including agriculture
Effects of different disturbance regimes, including different agronomic treatments such as till and no-till practices, on fungal diversity and the effects of these changes on ecosystem function
Teaching
Current and past courses
-
Flora & Vegetation of Ontario (BIO-3403A, next offered September-December 2027)
-
Evolution of Plants (BIO-3404F, next offered September-December 2026)
-
Biology of the Fungi (BIO-3218G, January-April 2026)
-
Tropical Biodiversity Field Course, co-taught with Dr. Nina Zitani (BIO-3220Z, last offered August 2019) See course blog at
http://atwestern.typepad.com/experiential_learning/
and a listing of other field courses through the Ontario Universities Program in Field Biology (OUPFB) at
http://www.oupfb.ca/modules.html
.
Costa Rica
Some Useful Links
Area de Conservación Guanacaste Home Page
Organization for Tropical Studies Home Page
Biotropica
: the journal
Revista de Biología Tropical
Students
Current Graduate Students
-
Makayla Lloyd
(PhD student; Continued bioprospecting of mushroom fungi) 09/2025--
-
Megan Demars
(MSc student; Mine waste reclamation in response to climate change) 01/2025--
-
Ada Jarosch
(MSc student; Diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi in Carolinian Canada) 09/2024--
-
Natalie Tateishi
(MSc student; Antibiotic production in Hericium and Hohenbuehelia) 09/2023-12/2025
-
Bruce Malloch
(PhD student; Interactions of microarthropods with fruiting bodies of resupinate fungi on wood) 09/2021--
Some Former Graduate and Undergraduate Students:
-
Emily Barbosa
(Honours Thesis student; Fungi as a source of novel alternatives to antibiotics) 09/2024-04/2025
-
Michelle In
(Honours Thesis student; Systematics of a novel gomphoid mushroom) 09/2024-04/2025
-
Aiyshah Kirmani
(Honours Thesis student; Phylogenetic identification of macrofungi on aspen) 09/2024-04/2025
-
Imaan Shaideen
(Honours Thesis student; Systematics of Strobilurus in Ontario and Quebec) 09/2024-04/2025
-
Beau Daigneault
(Honours Thesis student; Detection of a novel plant pathogen in Canada, Neodothiora populina) 09/2024-04/2025, and USRI student (Systematics of Hohenbuehelia) 05/2023-08/2023
-
Alexandra Gravito
(Honours Thesis student; Vascular plants of London in the UWO Herbarium) 09/2024-04/2025
-
Mackenzie Mihorean
(Honours Thesis student; Entoloma of Newfoundland) 09/2024-04/2025
-
William van Hemessen
(MSc student; Macrofungi of Carolinian Canada) 01/2023-04/2025, see his list here
-
Amber Patten
(Honours Thesis student; Phylogenetic analysis of
Elaphomyces
from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) 09/2022-04/2023
-
Ryan Matteazzi
(Honours Thesis student; Multigene phylogeny of
Exidia
species) 09/2022-04/2023
-
Makayla Lloyd
(MSc student; Bioprospecting in
Pleurotus
) 09/2022-04/2024
-
Julien Koga
(MSc student; Production of erinacine A in North American species of
Hericium
) 09/2022-08/2024, see his paper A multilocus phylogeny of Hericium (Hericiaceae, Russulales)
-
Rachel Rajsp
(MSc student; Fungal communities in Ginseng Replant Disease) 05/2021-12/2023
-
Alicia Banwell
(MSc student; Mycorrhizal nurse trees and mycorrhizal fungi in Newfoundland) 01/2021-12/2023, now with Intervale Associates
-
Katarina Kukolj
(MSc student; Impact of
Lepista
on soil microbial and microfaunal communities) 01/2021-11/2024, see TVO Kids Secrets of the Forest - Marvellous Mycorrhizae with Alicia, above.
-
Marianna Wallace
(MSc student; Mycobiomes associated with yield in winter wheat) 09/2019-12/2022, now with Alimentiv
-
Noor Saeed-Cheema
(MSc student; Manipulating the root mycobiome to improve plant performance and reduce pathogen pressure in corn,
Zea mays
) 01/2020-08/2022, now with Myzel Organics
-
Wasan Haider
(Honours Thesis student; Phylogenetic analysis of angel wings) 09/2021-04/2022
-
Elizabeth Ralph
(Honours Thesis student; Phylogenetic analysis of
Hohenbuehelia
) 09/2021-04/2022, went on to Nursing at University of Toronto
-
Asina Suzuk
(Honours Thesis student; Phylogenetic analysis of Newfoundland false truffles,
Elaphomyces
) 09/2021-04/2022
-
Donald (Tyler) Watson
(MSc student; Exploiting saprotrophic fungi for weed control) 01/2020-12/2021, went on to work at Whitecrest Mushrooms in nearby Putnam ON
-
Megan Lambert
(MSc student jointly supervised with Mark Bernards; Mycobiome of ginseng gardens) 09/2018-07/2021, went to work with A&L Biologicals, Inc. (now part of Deveron Corp.)
-
Lahari Basu
(Honours Thesis student; Phylogenetic placement of Ascomycota nLSU OTUs) 09/2020-04/2021, went on to a PhD at Carleton University
-
Lauren Eldred
(Honours Thesis student; Phylogenetic placement of Basidiomycota nLSU OTUs) 09/2020-04/2021, went on to Vet school at Guelph
-
Nicole Melzer
(MSc student; The mycobiome of ginseng gardens) 09/2020-05/2021
-
Michael Bonneville
(Honours Thesis student; Genomics of white and golden chanterelles of Newfoundland) 09/2019-04/2020
-
Katarina Kukolj
(Honours Thesis student; Shared root-inhabiting fungi of orchids and ash in Newfoundland) 09/2019-04/2020, went on to do her MSc in my lab at Western (above).
-
Rebecca Spencer
(Honours Thesis student; Are there shared root-inhabiting fungi in orchids and ash in Newfoundland?) 09/2019-04/2020, went on to do an MSc in biochemistry at the University of Ottawa
-
Alicia Banwell
(Honours Thesis student; White chanterelles of Newfoundland) 09/2018-04/2019, went on to do her MSc in my lab at Western (above). See
Scientific Reports
-
Anna Basu
(Honours Thesis student; Systematics of
Hohenbuehelia
) 09/2018-04/2019, now in Medical school at Western
-
Angela Shaw
(Honours Thesis student; Systematics of the
Exidia recisa
complex) 09/2018-04/2019, went on to an MSc in Medical Genomics at University of Toronto
-
Morgan Walker
(Honours Thesis student; Improving the identifications of unknown mushroom DNAs extracted from soil) 09/2017-04/2018, went on to an MSc in Neurophysiology at Western
-
Alexandra (Lexi) Poelman
(Honours Thesis student; Fungi in tree roots from caves and mines in New Brunswick) 09/2017-04/2018, now practicing chiropractic medicine
-
Sarah Allan
(MSc student; Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in natural and restored tallgrass prairie) 09/2013-08/2017
-
Nimalka Weerasuriya
(MSc student; Fungi associated with common buckthorn,
Rhamnus cathartica
, in the London area) 09/2013-03/2017, now at Oklahoma State University
-
Dr. Asma Asemaninejad
(PhD student; Climate change effects on fungal communities in peat) 01/2013-12/2016. See
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1754504817300193
and
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs00248-016-0875-9.pdf
and
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0159043
, now a research scientist at NRCan in Ottawa
-
Christopher Hay
(MSc student; Agaricomycetes of Ontario tallgrass prairies) 09/2014-08/2016. See
CFN paper
; now the Scientific Data Manager for IISD Experimental Lakes Area.
-
Dr. Jennifer McDonald
(PhD student; Systematics of
Stigmatolemma
and the cyphelloid Resupinateae) 09/2007-08/2015. Jen is now on faculty at Saint Mary's University, Halifax.
-
Catriona Catomeris
(4th year student co-supervised with
Dr. Hugh Henry); Impacts of nitrogen deposition on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in restored tallgrass prairie) 09/2014-04/2015, went on to an MSc degree at UBC.
-
Dana Kavanagh
(4th year student; Epiphytic lichen communities in conservation areas surrounding London Ontario: impacts of atmospheric nitrogen) 09/2014-04/2015.
-
Vlad Deboveanu
(4th year student; Health and fungal disease survey of street trees in London Ontario) 09/2013-04/2014. Followed with a degree in Education, now teaching high school science in Toronto
-
Zoe Chatzidakis
(4th year student; Fungi in roots of black ash and showy ladyslipper orchid) 09/2012-04/2013
-
Jee Kim
(4th year student;
Cantharellus
species of Newfoundland) 09/2012-04/2013 - See
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjb-2016-0213
. Completed her PhD at Dalhousie in Halifax.
-
Alexandra Timoshenko
(4th year student; Lichen communities on Norway Maples in London) 09/2012-04/2013
-
Jessie Wong Furze
(MSc student; Agaricomycetes in tilled and untilled agricultural soils) 09/2010-08/2012.
-
Madeline Robson
(4th year student;
Auricularia
on hardwoods in North America) 09/2011-04/2012
-
Morgan Barber
(4th year student;
Auricularia
from Newfoundland) 09/2010-04/2011
-
Rachel Beretta
(NSERC USRA student and volunteer;
Inocybe
and other interesting agarics) 09/2010-04/2013. Graduate of med school at McMaster
-
Megan DeMille
(4th year student; Basidiomycetes from New Brunswick Bats) 09/2010-04/2011.
-
Cassia Vilneff Shugg
(MSc student;
Cantharellus
in Newfoundland) 01/2010-04/2011. Taught high school science, then completed an MBA in agribusiness at Guelph.
-
Dr. Holly Stover
(NSERC - USRA and 4th year thesis student; Importance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to plant diversity in tallgrass prairies) 05/2009-08/2010; completed her MSc in restoration ecology at the University of Alberta and has now completed her PhD in the lab of
Dr. Hugh Henry
-
Dr. Aniruddho Hoque
(MSc student; Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in tallgrass prairies) 09/2008-04/2011. Completed his PhD with Dr. Shiva Singh
-
Barbara Bahnmann
(MSc student; Diversity of Agaricomycetes in agricultural soils) 01/2004-04/2009. Now pursuing a PhD in molecular mycology in the Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic.
-
Alexandra Koziak
(MSc student;
Nematoctonus
in Costa Rica) 09/2003-03/2006, has moved on to teaching in Calgary
-
Dr. Mirjam Urb
(MSc student; Fungi associated with caterpillars in Costa Rica) 09/2003-01/2006, completed her PhD in the lab of Dr. Don Sheppard at McGill University in Montreal, and is now working in cancer research in Lyon, France.
-
Dr. Michael Lynch
(MSc student; Impacts of tillage on soil basidiomycetes)09/2002-12/2004, completed his PhD in the lab of
Dr. Kirsten Muller
at the University of Waterloo. Co-winner of the Canadian Botanical Association 2007 Luella Weresub Award for best Canadian student paper in mycology published in 2006, based on the first paper from his MSc work. Click
here
to see the paper (pdf).
Last update: 5 December 2025
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