05 nov. 2019 - Aljenadro Rodriguez Gijon

Cryptogamy: a great tool to learn how science works

Presenta: Alejandro Rodrigues Gijon

Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain

Cryptogamy comprises many organisms used in many scientific projects, such as climate change, phylogenetics or carbon circle studies, so they are a great tool to teach students how to carry great scientific projects with common organisms due to their widespread distribution and ecology. For example, mosses are regarded as good bioindicators of the impact of pollutants in ecosystems, but it is necessary to understand to what extent the resistance mechanisms they present interfere with their utility as biomonitors. Many scientists argue that these organisms are useful as they are directly related to atmospheric quality, but many others think that the widespread resistance of mosses seems to be related to their ability to exclude heavy metals, what must be considered in biomonitoring programs as it could state a big problem on their usage.
On the other side, phylogenetics are a great tool to understand species evolution and ecology. Tremella s.l. (Basidiomycota, Fungi) grow associated with other fungi, including both lichenized and non-lichenized fungi and are often highly host specific, presenting usually parasitic lifestyles. On his MsC studies, Dr Rodriguez could appreciate and analyzed both molecularly and morphologically the diversity of Tremella species that grow on Ramalina lichens which appear close to T. ramalinae. Together with his group, he also checked the potential coevolution and which evolution events could have happened between both groups.

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