Helmut Mayrhofer is an Austrian lichenologist. He is known for his expertise on the

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

family

Physciaceae The Physciaceae are a family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. A 2016 estimate placed 19 genera and 601 species in the family. Description The Physiaceae family includes various ...

and his studies of the lichen

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

of the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, and other regions.

Biography

Helmut Mayrhofer was born in 1953 in

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, a village in Austria. He went to

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Gröbming Gröbming () is a municipality in the district of Liezen (district), Liezen in Styria, Austria. References

Cities and towns in Liezen District {{Styria-geo-stub ...

and

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, and then to the

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

. He graduated from there in 1976 with a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

, having submitted a thesis titled "Flechten auf ''Rhododendron ferrugineum''" ("Lichens on ''

Rhododendron ferrugineum ''Rhododendron ferrugineum'', the alpenrose, snow-rose, or rusty-leaved alpenrose is an evergreen shrub that grows just above the tree line in the Alps, Pyrenees, Jura mountains, Jura and northern Apennine Mountains, Apennines, on acid soils. It ...

''"). Mayrhofer worked at the as a high school teacher before returning to the University of Graz for work as a scientific assistant, a position he held until 1988. While working as a schoolteacher, Mayrhofer was also working on his doctoral degree, under the supervision of

Josef Poelt Josef Poelt was a botanist, bryologist and lichenologist. He held the chair in Systematic Botany and Plant Geography at the Free University of Berlin (1965 - 1972) and then was head of the Botanical Institute and Botanical Garden of Graz Universi ...

. He defended his thesis, titled "Die saxicolen Arten der Flechtengattungen ''Rinodina'' und ''Rinodinella'' in der Alten Welt" ("The saxicolous species of the lichen genera ''Rinodina'' and ''Rinodinella'' in the Old World) in 1988, receiving his ''

venia docendi A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

'' (Doctor of Science) in

plant systematics The history of plant systematics—the biological classification of plants—stretches from the work of ancient Greek to modern evolutionary biologists. As a field of science, plant systematics came into being only slowly, early plant lore usuall ...

. That year he became a university

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

; eventually he became an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

in 1995, and held this position until he retired in 2018. As of that year, he had supervised 10 PhD students and 38 masters and diploma thesis candidates. Mayrhofer served twice (1999–2010 and 2013–2017) as the head of the Institute of Plant Sciences at the University of Graz. He was a

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

in Slovenia from 2001 to 2003 and at the

University of Montenegro The University of Montenegro () is a national public university of Montenegro. Its central administration and most of its constituent faculties are located in the country's capital Podgorica, with campuses in Nikšić, Cetinje, and Kotor. Its ...

Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...

from 2004 to 2006. He served as a member of the editorial boards of the journals '' Acta Botanica Croatica'', ''

Mycobiota Mycobiota (plural noun, no singular) are a group of all the fungi present in a particular geographic region (e.g. "the mycobiota of Ireland") or habitat type (e.g. "the mycobiota of cocoa"). An analogous term for ''Mycobiota'' is funga. Human myc ...

'', and '' Natura Montenegrina'', and has been an editor of the journal '' Herzogia''.

Research

Mayrhofer started research on crustose lichens beginning with his master's thesis. Through comparative light microscopical studies of lichens in '' Rinodina'', he developed a typology of

ascospore In fungi, an ascospore is the sexual spore formed inside an ascus—the sac-like cell that defines the division Ascomycota, the largest and most diverse Division (botany), division of fungi. After two parental cell nucleus, nuclei fuse, the ascu ...

s that proved to be useful in the identification of species in that genus, and later in the

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

of the entire family. As a result of his research, ''Rinodina'' went from being one of the least understood crustose lichen genera in the 1980s to one of the most studied. He later included other characters such as secondary chemistry,

ascus An ascus (; : asci) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some gen ...

shapes, ascospore

ontogeny Ontogeny (also ontogenesis) is the origination and development of an organism (both physical and psychological, e.g., moral development), usually from the time of fertilization of the ovum, egg to adult. The term can also be used to refer to t ...

, and

molecular phylogenetics Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

to help resolve taxonomic issues in the Physciaceae. Another research interest of Mayrhofer has been documenting lichen

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

in various locations. Together with his students, and sometimes in collaboration with other colleagues, he has catalogued the lichen biota of several countries in the

, the Mediterranean islands of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

and

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, as well as the Asian countries of

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

and

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

. Mayrhofer has explored extensively several mountainous areas in Austria and Slovenia and has compiled an annotated inventory of lichens in the

Eponymy

Several lichen species have been named in Mayrhofer's honour, including: '' Fuscidea mayrhoferi'' ; '' Lecanora mayrhoferi'' ; '' Rinodina mayrhoferi'' (1984); '' Skyttea mayrhoferi'' ; '' Unguiculariopsis helmutii'' ; '' Xanthoparmelia mayrhoferi'' ; '' Acarospora mayrhoferi'' ; '' Cratiria mayrhoferi'' ; '' Dimelaena mayrhoferiana'' ; '' Lecanora helmutii'' ; '' Stigmidium mayrhoferi'' ''

Tremella mayrhoferi ''Tremella'' is a genus of fungi in the family (biology), family Tremellaceae. All ''Tremella'' species are parasitism, parasites of other fungi and most produce anamorphic yeast states. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies), when produced, are gelatinous ...

'' ; and ''

Usnea mayrhoferi ''Usnea mayrhoferi'' is a species of fruticose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is found in the Galápagos Islands. Taxonomy ''Usnea mayrhoferi'' was first species description, formally described by Maria de los Angeles Herrera-Campos, Fr ...

'' .

Selected publications

A compilation of Mayrhofer's scientific publications up until 2018 was given in the Bilovitz et al. tribute article. Some of his major works include: * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayrhofer, Helmut 1953 births Living people Austrian lichenologists Austrian taxonomists People from Liezen District University of Graz alumni

Biography

Research

Eponymy

Selected publications

See also

References