Toby Spribille
@spribille
Microbial interactions; lichens; symbiosis. Naturalist, conservationist. Associate Professor/CRC in Symbiosis at University of Alberta
Congratulations to Gulnara Tagirdzhanova @metalichen.bsky.social on receiving the Aino Henssen Award last night for outstanding postdoctoral research on lichen symbiosis from the International Association for Lichenology! #IAL10
Sergio Perez Ortega talking about photobiont community networks: networks simplify with greater air pollution #IAL10
Veronika Vesela presenting on their fascinating work with @skaloud.bsky.social on algae and algal symbionts inside and outside of lichens in a great study in CZ #IAL10
Pavel Škaloud opens day two of #IAL10 with a riveting lecture on symbiosis from the distant mists of time up to the present. Nice to have this much emphasis on symbiosis at this IAL meeting!
Great to see our very own Arseniy @belosokh.bsky.social talk (albeit by video) at #IAL10 about his work on vitamin syntrophies in lichen symbioses
Excited for the kick-off of the International Association of Lichenology symposium in person for the first time in 10 years in Trieste, Italy. Looking forward to lots of great talks over the next week. #IAL10
Came across witch’s cauldron fungus (Sarcosoma globosum) this weekend during fieldwork in interior British Columbia and it is among the weirdest fungi I’ve ever seen, filled with a good 50 ml of viscous liquid Video thanks to Romina Silva Espejo
I am thrilled to congratulate David Díaz Escandón @ddiazescandon.bsky.social on successfully defending his Ph.D. on lichen fungal comparative genomics at @ualberta.bsky.social — the culmination of a journey!
Almost lost amidst the cow excitement (cow-motion?) was that @currentbiology.bsky.social featured a brilliant paper on #lichen fungi in this week’s issue by Victoria Keller et al. including @veera-t-nogerius.bsky.social — what is not to lichen about this new double ascomycete living arrangement
Went out today to size up the wind damage in the drainage behind the ranch following the recent storm, and it wasn’t too bad. Salish Mountains, Montana
Mid-October at the University of Alberta. The elms really make Edmonton the city that it is. Long may they thrive
New book! Just received my copy of the lovely 2025 „Lavar — en fältguide“ by the unblueskyed Roland Moberg, Göran Thor and Svante Hultengren. Great book, main selling point for me is that many species seldom depicted anywhere are shown with gorgeous photos. Made for Scand but useful all pts north
Great to see our very own Arseniy Belosokhov presenting his preliminary experimental results in vitamin auxotrophy in lichen fungal symbionts at the 5th annual @canfunnet.bsky.social virtual conference
@canfunnet.bsky.social brings researchers together! Day 3 watch party for the 5th annual CanFunNet virtual conference here at UAlberta with @ahuereca.bsky.social
Demnächst im Buchhandel! Bzw. jetzt eigentlich schon überall im Vorverkauf: die deutsche Übersetzung von „Lives of Lichens“ mit meinem Koautor Robert Lücking (Bot Garten Berlin) im Haupt-Verlag. Freuen uns, Flechtenbiologie für eine deutschsprachige Leserschaft schmackhaft zu machen!
Not a fan of the NYT but to their credit they did post this before the election and lo and behold
So good to be back in Uppsala working with @veera-t-nogerius.bsky.social
Another shoutout of gratitude to @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social for supporting green alternatives to flying to save carbon on academic visits! Trying to implement this myself wherever and whenever possible #Toulouse
Congratulations to @puginiercamille.bsky.social on your stunning PhD defence yesterday and all the best for the onward journey! And thanks @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social and @kellerjeanphd.bsky.social for the invitation and the warm welcome! I hope to see you many more times in Toulouse!
New in The Lichenologist: a nice collaboration with colleagues including from Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet and the Canadian Museum of Nature, the first of several in the pipe #lichen www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
He appears to be referring to this passage in his 1866 book www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/211464#... To say this is the discovery of symbiosis is a stretch, to say the least. Elsewhere in this book he dedicates a large section of this book to “gonidia” as integral lichen organs
But he modestly pointed out in a footnote that he had expressed the suspicion (“Vermuthung”) this was the case already in 1866, basing this on extensive unpublished investigations
De Bary (1879) credited Schwendener, who really didn’t present his evidence until 1869