Prof. Emeritus Teuvo Ahti is primarily working on taxonomy and biogeography of lichens. With Soili Stenroos he is preparing a taxonomic world monograph of the ascomycetous lichen family Cladoniaceae, which consists of about 500 species. In addition, he is contributing to major projects in North America, such as coauthoring a compendium of lichens of Alaska (PI Toby Spribille, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB) and coauthoring a Catalogue of lichens of Newfoundland & Labrador (PI John W. McCarthy, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON). He is also curating his extensive backlog collections from Alaska, Canada, China, Venezuela, Mexivo, Brazil, Argentina and Australia.
Dr. Johannes Enroth is an emeritus senior lecturer. His research focuses on the taxonomy and systematics of tropical mosses, especially the family Neckeraceae. He is a member of the bryophyte research group.
Dr. Xiaolan He is a principal investigator and curator of bryophyte collections. Her research is focused on the taxonomy and systematics of bryophytes, particularly the liverworts. Her research interests also include mechanisms underlying the evolution of genetically controlled sexual systems in bryophytes, as well as bryophyte conservation.
Dr. Jaakko Hyvönen works as a professor of cryptogam plant systemics. His research is focused on the taxonomy of the hair-cap mosses (Polytrichaceae), and his research interests also include phylogenetics, particularly practice and theory of cladistics.
Dr. Annina Kantelinen is a postdoctoral researcher. Her research is focused on speciation, molecular systematics and taxonomy of lichens, in particular crustose species. Her research interests also include lichens on dead wood and conservation biology. She supervises a project that studies climate impact on subarctic lichen diversity.
Sanna Laaka-Lindberg, collection coordinator, principal investigator
Her main tasks in bryological research today/nowadays are concentrated on maintenance of bryological collections, but also digitization of specimen label information for global use at www.laji.fi. Her research activities included bryophyte reproductive and population ecology, which complements present interests of bryologist staff at Luomus.
Dr. Otto Miettinen works as the curator of fungal collections and principal investigator. His research is focused in the systematics and taxonomy of wood-inhabiting basidiomycetes, in particular polypores, corticioid fungi and jelly fungi. His research intrests also include autecology and community ecology as well as mechanisms and evolutionary history of wood decomposition in these fungi. He coordinates the basidiomycete research group, which focuses on fungal systematics and taxonomy.
Dr. Leena Myllys is a principal investigator and curator of lichen collections. Her research focuses especially on the evolution of alectoroid lichens, which is regarded as one of the taxonomically most difficult group of macrolichens. Her research group is also working on evolution, taxonomy and ecology of microlichens living on decaying wood. The results obtained from her research offer new insights on the evolution and speciation of symbiotic organisms and provide important insights for improving conservation strategies of threatened species.
Dr. Tuomo Niemelä is an emeritus researcher and former team leader. He is largely responsible for initiating the vibrant research on taxonomy and ecology of wood-inhabiting fungi in Finland, and has published extensively on polypore taxonomy and written identification manuals of the group. His interests also includes African vegetation and use of polypores as conservation value indicators. Dr. Niemelä participates in the research activities of the basidiomycete research group.
Dr. Viacheslav (Slava) Spirin is a senior researcher in the basidiomycete research group. He is among world's leading taxonomic experts on corticioid basidiomycetes, and has deep expertise on polypores and jelly fungi as well. He is the world leading expert on wood-inhabiting heterobasidiomycetes, including Pucciniomycotina. Aside publishing extensively on taxonomy and systematics, he has conducted numerous biodiversity surveys in high-conservation forests in Finland and Russia. Dr. Spirin is currently affiliated also with the University of Gothenburg.
Prof. Soili Stenroos is an emeritus researcher and former leader of the Mycology and Bryology Team. She has published extensively and lead various projects on topics such as systematics of the Lecanoromycetes and epibryophytic microfungi. She also managed a multi-year project of type specimen digitization in H (Global Plants partnership) and acted as the project leader and editor in chief in publishing multiple hand- books on lichens. Currently, she focuses on a major monographic treatment of the lichen family Cladoniaceae.
Ilya Viner is a doctoral student in the basidiomycete research group. He specializes in the taxonomy of Hyphodontia sensu lato (incl. Kneiffiella and Xylodon), which are polypores and corticioid fungi in the order Hymenochaetales (Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota). Along with Dr. Miettinen, he has built a sizable collection of living cultures that enable high-quality DNA extraction and experimental lab work.
Tea von Bonsdorff is the Secretary of Specialist Group for Fungi of Finland. She works mainly with red-listed fungi (IUCN categories of fungal species) and fungi indicating high conservation value of Finnish forests. Her research intrests are the taxonomy and ecology of agaricoid in general (e.g. Mycena). Tea is the chair of the board of Nordsvamp and the Vice President of the Finnish Mycological Society. She is a Finland´s representative in European Council of Conservation of Fungi.
Lilith Weber is a PhD researcher with a focus on lichen systematics, their ecology & conservation challenges. Her current project shines a light on (sub)arctic species diversity and studies how climate change and snow depth affect these sensitive communities.