Meinhard Michael Moser

Meinhard Michael Moser (13 March 192430 September 2002) was an Austrian mycologist. His work principally concerned the taxonomy, chemistry, and toxicity of the gilled mushrooms (Agaricales), especially those of the genus Cortinarius, and the ecology of ectomycorrhizal relationships. His contributions to the Kleine Kryptogamenflora von Mitteleuropa series of mycological guidebooks were well regarded and widely used. In particular, his 1953 Blätter- und Bauchpilze (Agaricales und Gastromycetes) [The Gilled and Gasteroid Fungi (Agaricales and Gastromycetes)], which became known as simply "Moser", saw several editions in both the original German and in translation. Other important works included a 1960 monograph on the genus Phlegmacium (sometimes considered part of Cortinarius) and a 1975 study of members of Cortinarius, Dermocybe, and Stephanopus in South America, co-authored with the mycologist Egon Horak.

After showing interest in natural sciences in his youth, Moser studied at the University of Innsbruck. His university career began during World War II however, and was soon interrupted by military service. Stationed as a translator in eastern Europe, he was captured and placed in a prisoner-of-war camp. He was released in 1948, subsequently returning to Innsbruck to complete his studies. After completing his doctorate in 1950, Moser worked in England for six months, researching the symbiotic relationships between plants and fungi. Upon his return to Austria, he joined the Federal Forestry Research Institute, where he remained until 1968, conducting influential research on the use of mycorrhizal fungi in reforestation. He began lecturing at the University of Innsbruck in 1956, and in 1972 became the inaugural head of the first Institute of Microbiology in Austria. He remained with the Institute until his retirement in 1991, and his scientific studies continued until his death in 2002. An influential mycologist who described around 500 new taxa, Moser received awards throughout his life, and numerous fungal taxa have been named in his honour.

Life and career

Early life, university, and military service Meinhard Michael Moser was born on 13 March 1924 in Innsbruck, Austria, to Margaretha and Josef Moser. His father was a teacher at a technical college in the city, while his mother was the daughter of the botanist Emil Johann Lambert Heinricher. Moser attended primary school and grammar school in the city. His interest in natural sciences was cultivated from a young age by Heinricher. Moser's earliest paintings of mushrooms date to 1935, when he was 11 years old.

In 1942, Moser enrolled at the University of Innsbruck, taking classes in botany, zoology, geology, physics, and chemistry. Austria was under the control of Nazi Germany at this time, and did not exist as an independent state. Moser became an "authorized mushroom controller and instructor", and was in turn directed to attend mycological seminars around Germany and Austria. At these seminars, he met prominent mycologists, including Ernst Thirring, who introduced Moser to the large genus Cortinarius and its scientific challenges, which remained an interest of Moser's for the rest of his life. While a prisoner, he was involved in repairing the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Sevastopol. Working in construction at the camp, he had to labour to his physical limits, and was involved in a serious crash that killed several other prisoners. In 1950, under the supervision of the botanist Arthur Pisek, Moser completed his doctoral thesis, Zur Wasserökologie der höheren Pilze, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung von Waldbrandflächen [Water Ecology in Higher Fungi with Special Emphasis on Forest-Fire Areas]. Having become friends with prominent German mycologists during the War, In 1952, after his return to Austria, he was offered a post at the Federal Institute for Forestry Research at Imst, which he accepted. There, he applied what he had learnt about the symbiosis of fungi and trees to the practical issue of reforestation in the Alps, and developed a method for the use of ectomycorrhizal fungi for the "inoculation" of trees, which later became standard practice around the world. Moser remained with the Federal Institute until 1968. It served as an update to the mycologist Adalbert Ricken's 1918 Vademecum für Pilzfreunde [Handbook for Mushroom Hunters], though reflecting Moser's taxonomic views, which were highly influenced by Singer. Die Blätter- und Bauchpilze (Agaricales und Gastromycetes) became important for the study of biodiversity in and out of Europe,

University of Innsbruck

In 1956, while still a researcher at the institute, Moser began lecturing on microbiology at the University of Innsbruck, with the title of Privatdozent. Unlike the previous three books in the series, which were all written by German authors, the work addressed mushrooms that were of less interest to amateur mycologists; for instance, Phlegmacium was not considered to contain any significant edible species. The book drew upon Moser's expertise concerning mycorrhizal relationships. It listed 166 species, including some "exotic" taxa. Some of the listed species were described for the first time in that volume. were mostly Moser's own work; Singer described these in a review of the book as "both in original execution and reproduction among the best that have been published". Discussing the book as a whole, Singer said that the volume, "outstanding for its good print, attractive appearance, and interesting contents, should be present in every mycological library". However, a combination of a lack of time and Moser's comparative lack of expertise in ascomycetes prevented subsequent editions of the work. Moser remained the society's president for 21 years. In 1972, he became the head of the newly established Institute of Microbiology at Innsbruck, the first of its kind in Austria. |group=note and it was dedicated to Singer. It was a study of South American Cortinarius, Stephanopus – a genus described in this work for the first time – and Dermocybe taxa, containing descriptions of 276 new species.

In 1983, in recognition of his forthcoming 60th birthday, an article dedicated to Moser was published in Sydowia. The piece, compiled by the microbiologist Franz Schinner, the mycologist Cuno Furrer-Ziogas, and Horak, contained a detailed biography of Moser and a full bibliography of the 116 research publications he had authored or co-authored between 1949 and 1983. Writing with Walter Jülich, Moser published the first volume of the book series Farbatlas der Basidiomyzeten [Colour Atlas of the Basidiomycytes] in 1985, presenting specimens of various Basidiomycota taxa. By the time of Moser's death, 19 volumes had been published; some posthumously published volumes have also listed Moser as an author.

Retirement and death In 1991, Moser retired from his teaching position to avoid the administrative burden and to focus on his research into Cortinarius and related genera.

Moser died on 30 September 2002. He was present at the International Mycological Association's 7th International Mycological Congress, at which he was listed as an author or co-author for four separate presentations. This was held in Oslo, Norway, from 11 to 17 August. After returning home, he suffered a series of heart attacks. He was admitted to hospital, but his condition rapidly declined, resulting in his death. Obituaries were published in a variety of academic journals, including Mycological Progress, Mycological Research, Sydowia, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Pilzkunde, and Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlichen-medizinischen Verein Innsbruck. Horak and colleagues wrote in one that Moser's death meant "an irreplaceable loss to the international community of mycological science", and, in another, that the "mycological world has lost one of its pillars of taxonomy for agarics and boletes. His former students, assistants and collaborators at the Microbiological Institute at the University of Innsbruck, his professional colleagues in the mycological community worldwide and his many friends will deeply regret the loss of a distinguished researcher, teacher, leader and mentor." In a short obituary as part of their report on the Eighth International Symposium on Arctic-Alpine Mycology, the mycologists Cathy Cripps and Joe Ammirati called Moser a "gentlemanly scholar" who "led us in his quiet way across the tundra and down many dichotomous paths".

Research

Over the course of his career, Moser collected more than 25,000 mycological specimens. He first described around 420 Cortinarius species and around 80 other species, including both agarics and boletes. He circumscribed three new genera: Singeromyces (1966), Stephanopus (1975), and Anamika (2002). Much of his research concerned the Agaricales – including the classical morphotaxonomy and the chemotaxonomy of the order, as well as the toxicity of the chemical constituents of the order's members – though a further key research concern was the ecology of ectomycorrhizal symbiosis.

In the early decades of his career, Moser sought to clarify the taxonomic identity of European fungi by collecting specimens to be described as neotypes in the localities studied by the mycologist Elias Magnus Fries, but this was no longer necessary after changes to nomenclatural rules that took effect in 1981. Among the Agaricales, Moser's interest was primarily in the complex genus Cortinarius. He published book-length works addressing Cortinarius taxa found in Europe and, co-writing with Horak, South America. Moser initially doubted the usefulness of molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Agaricales, but later contributed to research in this area.

Cortinarius mushrooms are often highly colourful. Moser made early progress towards studying the pigments in these mushrooms, hoping to find criteria for separating taxa, and some of his doctoral students studied these elements in depth. Cooperating with biochemists, he produced important work on the biosynthesis of pigments. Moser was also interested in the toxicity of the Agaricales, and, with his students, was involved with research on the toxin orellanine. In 1960, Singer referred to Moser as "one of the pioneers of mycorrhiza research, both basic and applied".

Personal life At the end of his life, Moser lived in the village of Vill, a part of Innsbruck. Moser was relatively reserved and formal in public and at events. When among friends and colleagues in relaxed environment he was much more open, displaying wit and a good sense of humour. He had a commitment to both mycological research and mycological education, and was fluent in several languages, such as – in addition to his native German – Russian and Swedish. He was known as an intellectual and a wide reader, with interests in fine art, classical music, literature, exploration, geography, and botany. In addition to reading and walking, he enjoyed stamp collecting and growing plants from seeds he had collected on his research trips.

Recognition

Moser received awards throughout his career, including the Hungarian Mycological Society's Clusius Medal (Budapest, 1978) and the Archdiocese of Vienna's Kardinal-Innitzer-Preis (Vienna, 1985). In 1986, he was made a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He received international recognition from mycological societies, and Centenary Fellow of the British Mycological Society in 1996.

The genera Moserella (Pöder & Scheuer 1994) and Chromosera (Redhead, Ammirati & Norvell 1995) were named in Moser's honour, as were the species Conocybe moseri (Watling 1980), Cortinarius moseri ((E. Horak) E. Horak 2001), Cortinarius moserianus (Bohus 1970), Cortinarius meinhardii (Bon 1986), Entoloma moserianum (Noordel. 1983), Gerronema moseri (Singer 1983), Gymnopus moseri (Antonín & Noordel. 1997), Hebeloma moseri (Singer 1969), Hydropus moserianus (Bas 1983), Hygrocybe moseri (Bon 1976), Lactarius moseri (Harmaja 1985), Hilberina moseri ((O. Hilber) Huhndorf & A.N. Mill. 2014), Leucoagaricus moseri ((Wasser) Wasser 1978), Peziza moseri (Aviz.-Hersh. & Nemlich 1974), Phaeocollybia moseri (Bandala & Guzmán 1996), Psathyrella moseri (Singer 1969), Psilocybe moseri (Guzmán 1995), Pyxidiophora moseri ((T. Majewski & J. Wisn.) N. Lundq. 1980), Thaxteriola moseri (T. Majewsky & J. Wisn. 1978), Tricholoma moseri (Singer 1989), Tricholoma moserianum (Bon 1990), Tubaria moseri (Raithelh. 1974), and Wardomyces moseri (W. Gams 1995). Moser's major works include:

Moser, Meinhard Michael; Horak, Egon (1975). Cortinarius Fr. und nahe verwandte Gattungen in Südamerika. Nova Hedwigia Beiheft 52: 1–628.

Moser, Meinhard Michael; Jülich, Walter (1985–2002). Farbatlas der Basidiomyzeten. Lieferungen 1–19. Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer.