Fungal evolution

Fungal evolution

Diversification of fungi in the order Russulales.

Taxonomists create the language of biodiversity, enabling communication about different organisms among scientists and the general public. This essential work is particularly challenging in hyper diverse and morphologically cryptic groups, such as the kingdom Fungi. Especially in this new molecular era, the approach to taxonomy is about to change drastically. Jorinde Nuytinck combines fieldwork, morphology, microscopy and state of the art molecular phylogenetic techniques to study the evolution and diversification of fungi in the order Russulales. She is also involved in fungal barcoding studies and a metabarcoding project in tropical Africa. The Kits van Waveren Foundation is sponsoring her as a research fellow at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center.