André Aptroot (
Heemskerk, 1961) is a Dutch
mycologist and
lichenologist. His primary research focus is on
biodiversity, particularly tropical lichens, encompassing
systematics
Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...
,
floristic surveys, and
taxonomic reviews. A prolific researcher, he has published more than 500 scientific papers and described hundreds of new fungal and lichen species.
Career
In 1993 he did his
PhD at the
University of Utrecht under the supervision of
Robbert Gradstein (nl). His
dissertation was titled "Systematic studies on pyrenocarpous lichens and related fungi".
He specializes in
fungi
A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...
and
lichens on which he has several hundreds of publications to his name. He has worked as
curator at
Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (now Westerdijk Institute).
Aptroot is the founder of the ''Adviesbureau voor Bryologie en Lichenologie – Herbarium'' (Consultancy for Bryology and Lichenology), which is located in
Soest where there is a
herbarium with a collection of lichens mainly from the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and the
tropics. This collection numbers into the tens of thousands of specimens, estimated to represent about 10,000 species.
From 2008 he has been collection manager at
Pinetum Blijdenstein (nl) in
Hilversum. He is a member of the
International Association for Lichenology and the
American Bryological and Lichenological Society
The American Bryological and Lichenological Society is an organization devoted to the scientific study of all aspects of the biology of bryophytes and lichen-forming fungi and is one of the nation's oldest botanical organizations. It was original ...
.
He is a visiting professor at the
Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul in Campo Grande, Brazil, since February 2019. In 2020, Aptroot was listed among the 100,000 most influential scientists in the world according to research published by
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, which utilised citations from the
Scopus database. The research highlighted scientists' impact throughout their careers and in the year 2019 specifically.
Because of Aptroot's broad expertise in tropical lichens, his colleague
Ingvar Kärnefelt has called him "a
Müller Argoviensis of our time".
Aptroot is the author or co-author of three of the thirty most highly cited publications published in the scientific journal ''
The Lichenologist'' from 2000 to 2019.
He is also a prolific author (or co-author) of new fungal and lichen species, having
formally described 775 as of December 2017.
Starting with 2017 he acts as co-editor of the
exsiccata series ''Lichenes Neotropici'', together with
Klaus Kalb.
Eponymy
Several
taxa have
been named to honour Aptroot. These include the genera ''
Aptrootia'' and ''
Aptrootidea''
and the following species: ''
Mazosia aptrootii'' ;
''
Buellia aptrootii'' ;
''
Parmotrema aptrootii'' ;
''
Byssoloma aptrootii'' ;
''
Porina aptrootii'' ;
''
Pertusaria aptrootii'' ;
''
Didymella aptrootii'' ;
''
Lecidella aptrootii'' ;
''
Sclerophyton aptrootii'' ;
''
Alloconiothyrium aptrootii'' ;
''
Graphis aptrootiana'' ;
''
Ocellularia aptrootiana'' ;
''
Sclerococcum aptrootii'' ;
''
Myxospora aptrootii'' ;
''
Hazslinszkyomyces aptrootii'' ;
''
Gyalideopsis aptrootii'' ;
''
Lecidea aptrootii'' ;
''
Pseudochapsa aptrootiana'' ;
''
Ionaspis aptrootii'' ;
''
Carbacanthographis aptrootii'' ;
and ''
Tremella aptrootii'' .
Selected publications
Aptroot has written more than 500 publications on the
floristics and
systematics
Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...
of lichens and fungi.
*A Monograph of Didymosphaeria, André Aptroot: Studies in Mycology 37; 1–160 (1995)
hesis*
*
*
*Veldgids Korstmossen, Kok van Herk, André Aptroot & Laurens Sparrius,
KNNV Uitgeverij (2019)
See also
*
:Taxa named by André Aptroot
References
External links
Citations for André Aptroot in Google ScholarNetherlands Bryological and Lichenological Society Reports (nl)
* Wikispecies: "Lichens of St Helena"; "Pictures of Tropical Lichens" and other publications of André Aptroot
Galapagos Species Checklist Lichenized Fungi
Frank Bungartz, Frauke Ziemmeck, Alba Yanez Ayabaca, Fredy Nugra, André Aptroot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aptroot, Andre
1961 births
Living people
Dutch mycologists
People from Heemskerk
Utrecht University alumni
Dutch lichenologists
Dutch taxonomists