Collections-Based Research and Phylogenetics

My core research priority is to investigate the diversity of lichens, and the underlying evolutionary processes that have led to this. Independently of the group of study and where they are found, my approach assumes that molecular methods, combined with thorough study of morphology, anatomy and ecology, provide the best means of assessing the taxonomic significance of distinct characters observed in species. The classical taxonomist who perceives something new is not always able to tell if the morphological variation observed is inter- or intraspecific. We are now able to use molecular data to evaluate this variation.