Ross Ewen Beever (3 January 1946 – 3 June 2010) was a New Zealand geneticist and

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

Academic career

Born in

Te Kūiti Te Kūiti is a town in the north of the King Country region of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the junction of New Zealand State Highway 3, State Highways 3 and New Zealand State Highway 30, 30 and on the North Island Main Trunk rail ...

, Beever completed a MSc at

Auckland University The University of Auckland (; Māori language, Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public university, public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the Unive ...

with a thesis ''Growth of fungi on potato extract media'' and a PhD at

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

entitled ''Genetic and biochemical studies of

phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (, PEPCK) is an enzyme in the lyase family used in the metabolic pathway of gluconeogenesis. It converts oxaloacetate into phosphoenolpyruvate and carbon dioxide. It is found in two forms, cytosolic and mitoc ...

Neurospora crassa ''Neurospora crassa'' is a type of red bread mold of the phylum Ascomycota. The genus name, meaning 'nerve spore' in Greek, refers to the characteristic striations on the spores. The first published account of this fungus was from an infestatio ...

''. On his return to New Zealand he worked for DSIR and later

Landcare Research Landcare may refer to: * Australian Landcare Council, a former Australian government body, superseded by the National Landcare Advisory Committee * Landcare Australia, an Australian community not-for-profit organisation, involving local volunteers ...

, principally on ''

Botrytis cinerea ''Botrytis cinerea'' is a necrotrophic fungus that affects many plant species, although its most notable hosts may be wine grapes. In viticulture, it is commonly known as "botrytis bunch rot"; in horticulture, it is usually called "grey mould" ...

'' and other important plant diseases including ''

Phytoplasma australiense Phytoplasmas are obligate intracellular parasites of plant phloem tissue and of the insect vectors that are involved in their plant-to-plant transmission. Phytoplasmas were discovered in 1967 by Japanese scientists who termed them mycoplasma-lik ...

'', responsible for cabbage tree mortality, and ''

Phytophthora ''Phytophthora'' (from Greek (''phytón''), "plant" and (), "destruction"; "the plant-destroyer") is a genus of plant-damaging oomycetes (water molds), whose member species cause economic losses on crops worldwide, as well as environmental dam ...

'' species responsible for

kauri dieback ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside ''Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being ...

. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2004. Beever died in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in 2010. The Ross Beever Memorial Mycological Award was established by the New Zealand Mycological Society in 2014. Fungus

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

named in his honour include the species '' Colletotrichum beeveri'' and '' Cortinarius beeverorum'', and the genus '' Rossbeevera''.

References

New Zealand geneticists New Zealand mycologists 1946 births 2010 deaths People from Te Kūiti Alumni of the University of Leeds University of Auckland alumni People associated with Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Zealand) Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand scientists 21st-century New Zealand scientists {{NewZealand-scientist-stub