Ryan P. O’Donnell

like 50% of orchid pollination is horny male insects having their day ruined

A scientific figure showing speciation and explaining the concept of species delimitation, and including a quote by the paper's first author.

Check out the recent publication in Annual Reviews of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics where the authors explore genomic species delimitation in depth. You'll see a number of #sciart figures I created to help explain some of the concepts!

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

New fungal phylum-level system, with red font indicating novel taxa and size taxonomic diversity.

Fungal phylum-level classification update now available! Used "innovative taxonomy" to describe >100 taxa, from species to phylum, based on long reads, characteristic nucleotides and env-samples.
mycokeys.pensoft.net/article/1616...

#fungi #taxonomy #PacBio #classification #eDNA

I just passed my 50,000th identification on @inaturalist.bsky.social! Identifying is a huge but often ignored part of the #iNaturalist community and dataset so I wanted to share why and how I identify. 1/14

🧪 #ecology #taxonomy #botany #CommunityScience

Miyagawa Shuntei's 1898 painting, "Playing Go (Japanese Chess)"

How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go!

400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!

The pitfalls of rDNA‐based AMF identification: a comparative analysis of rDNA and protein‐coding genes Intragenomic polymorphism of rDNA in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has been largely overlooked in ecological and taxonomic studies, and the reliability of nuclear rDNA regions for species ident.....

Most of us use rDNA for community analyses of AM fungi. Intragenomic variation in rDNA of AM fungi can be pretty huge, depending on the region.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Will phylogeny for food

Thanks to everyone who came along/tuned in to my PhD exit seminar! What a thing to do at the end of almost four years. So close to submitting, just need to tidy up this last chapter and I’m done! PS does anyone need a mycology/botany genomics/systematics postdoc? 👀

A meme for #phylogenetics people.

My final PhD exit seminar is fast approaching! Tune in if you’d like to hear what I’ve been up to the last four years. There’s something for everyone: fungal genomics and species delimitation (38 new Rhizoctonia genomes), orchid phylogenomics and popgen, fungal taxonomy, it’s gonna be fun 🤙

Would love to be added please!

A lot of it comes down to the initial cost and time investment. It takes a lot to inoculate the trees and treat the soil so that it’s right, but it may be years before you will know whether your setup has worked successfully.

E&E Seminar Series: A symphony of colour and scents: Complex anthocyanin and terpene synthase mechanisms underpin the evolution of species-rich Australian orchids Many flowering plants have evolved diverse strategies to communicate with and attract animal pollinators. We have discovered exciting new evidence for the role of anthocyanins and terpenes in the evol...

Join us on campus & online on Thursday, 31 July 2025 at 1pm for a seminar by Dr Darren Wong, Postdoctoral Fellow from the Peakall Group, RSB, ANU. Details: tiny.cc/gizp001

Would love to be added, thanks!

Thanks @westerdijkinst.bsky.social !

A red flower on a green stem withe the words: BHL Call for support now open overlayed.

📢 The #BiodiversityHeritageLibrary is entering a bold new chapter – and we need your help! Today we release our official Call for Support. We’re seeking new hosts for BHL’s staff, infrastructure, and services. Learn more: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2025/06/tran... #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL

In an unconscionable decision, the Smithsonian Institute has decided to no longer support the Biodiversity Heritage Library from 1 Jan 2026. Please someone step up and take it over.

Unicore Enables Scalable and Accurate Phylogenetic Reconstruction with Structural Core Genes Abstract. The analysis of single-copy core genes, common to most members of a clade, is important for key tasks in biology including phylogenetic reconstru

so cool! academic.oup.com/gbe/article/... Nice work @martinsteinegger.bsky.social et al :)

We argue that the continued use of anamorph/teleomorph-typified generic names in #Ceratobasidiaceae hinders a holistic understanding of this family, when it is clear that pathogenic and symbiotic species are likely united in their fundamental biology.

We also found a distinct difference in the way certain names are used in the literature: pathogen researchers are more likely to use Rhizoctonia and Thanatephorus; while orchid mycorrhizal researchers are more likely to use Ceratobasidium and Ceratorhiza.

Names transferred to #Rhizoctonia include species formerly circumscribed within #Ceratobasidium, #Ceratorhiza, #Moniliopsis, #Thanatephorus, #Tofispora, and #Ypsilonidium (among other synonyms).

We reiterate the fact that the genera within Ceratobasidiaceae are paraphyletic, and formalise the recognition of a single genus; Rhizoctonia. We present 32 new combinations, to make a total of 52 accepted species of Rhizoctonia.

At long last, our manuscript ‘Rise up, Rhizoctonia: moving to one fungus, one name in the Ceratobasidiaceae’ has finally been published in Persoonia 🎉
Here we resolve several longstanding taxonomic issues within Ceratobasidiaceae and present a unified Rhizoctonia
www.persoonia.org/images/Volum...

#mycosky #mycology bluesky! I’m looking for some inspiration - what are some of your favourite recent (published within the last 1–3 years) fungal comparative phylogenomic studies that you’ve read?

26 freshly sequenced whole genomes of undescribed orchid-associated Rhizoctonia spp. 🤙 14 more genomes to go and then I’m on the home stretch for the PhD 🫨

After 372 days since submission, and 14 reviewers who committed to reviewing but didn’t wind up submitting a review, our Rhizoctonia nomenclature manuscript has finally been accepted for publication in Persoonia! 🥲

Panel discussion at the Bundanon art museum with three people, Richard Morecroft, Keg de Souza, and Ryan O’Donnell seated left to right in that order

Richard Morecroft, Keg de Souza and Ryan O’Donnell standing left to right in front of the Shoalhaven River at the Bundanon Art Museum

Had such a great time over the weekend talking with artist Keg de Souza and panel chair Richard Morecroft about fungi and the intersections of art and science for ‘Magic Mycelium’ at the Bundanon Art Museum - such an incredible art space and landscape.

At long last, the final typeset version of our Diurideae manuscript has finally been published in Systematic Biology! Check it out at doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

While Uni Vice-Chancellors rake in millions, young researchers struggle to survive Australia's university Vice-Chancellors are among the highest paid in the world, while Australia's PhD students are some of the lowest paid. That is not a sign of a healthy education system.

Australia’s university Vice-Chancellors are among the highest paid in the world.
Australia’s PhD students are some of the lowest paid.
That is not a sign of a healthy education system.

Read more from @jack-thrower.bsky.social: