| Meinhard Michael Moser | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 March 1924 Innsbruck, Austria |
| Died | 30 September 2002 (aged 78) Innsbruck, Austria |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Fields | Mycology |
| Institutions | University of Innsbruck |
| Alma mater | University of Innsbruck |
| Influences | Rolf Singer |
| Author abbreviation (botany) | M.M.Moser[1] |
Meinhard Michael Moser (13 March 1924 – 30 September 2002) was an Austrian mycologist. After showing interest in natural sciences in his youth, he studied at the University of Innsbruck. However, his university career was interrupted when he was forced to complete military service, and so he trained as a military translator. He was stationed in eastern Europe during World War II, before being captured and placed in a prisoner of war camp. He was released in 1948, then completed his studies.
After receiving his doctorate in 1950, he worked in England for six months, researching the symbiotic relationships between plants and fungi. Upon his return to Austria, he took up a position with the Federal Forestry Research Institute, where he took part in influential research on the use of mycorrhizal fungi in reforestation. In 1953, he published the first edition of one of his most important works; a monograph of the Agaricales and Gastromycetes of central Europe. He began lecturing at the University of Innsbruck in 1956, and in 1972 he became the inaugural head of the first Institute of Microbiology in Austria. He remained with the Institute until his retirement in 1991. His studies continued until his death in 2002. An influential mycologist, he received a number of awards throughout his life, and numerous fungal taxa have been named in his honour.
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Moser was born on 13 March 1924 in Innsbruck, Austria, to parents Margaretha and Josef Moser. His father was a teacher at a technical college in the city, while his mother was the daughter of noted botanist Emil Johann Lambert Heinricher.[2] Moser attended primary school and grammar school in the city, and showed an interest in natural sciences from a young age. His interest was cultivated by Heinricher, and Moser's earliest paintings of mushrooms date to 1935 when he was 11 years old.[3]
In 1942, Moser enrolled at the University of Innsbruck, taking classes in botany, zoology, geology, physics and chemistry. At this time, Austria was under the control of Nazi Germany and did not exist as an independent state. Moser became an authorised mushroom controller and instructor, and it was officially requested that he attend mycological seminars around Germany and Austria. At these seminars, he met a number of prominent mycologists, including E. Thirring. Thirring showed Moser some of the issues surrounding the large genus Cortinarius, which remained an interest for the rest of his life.[3] In 1943, aged 19 and after only three terms at Innsbruck, his studies were interrupted so he could perform military service. Having shown earlier promise in linguistics, he was trained as an interpreter, then sent to the Balkan Peninsula. He continued an active interest in mycology, collecting and identifying mushrooms and reading Rolf Singer's Das System der Agaricales.[3]
In 1945, when Moser was 21 years old and still carrying out active military service,[2] he was captured in Czechoslovakia and made a prisoner of war. He was imprisoned in a labour camp in Crimea, in the Ukraine. His time at the camp was not easy; working in construction, he had to work to his physical limits, and was involved in a serious crash which killed several other prisoners.[3] Moser was released in 1948,[3] and chose to return to his studies at the University of Innsbruck. His first publication came in 1949; "Über das Massenauftreten von Formen der Gattung Morchella auf Waldbrandflachen" ["Mass-fruiting of forms of the genus Morchella on forest-fire areas"] was published in the journal Sydowia.[4] In 1950, under the supervision of Arthur Pisek, Moser completed his doctoral thesis, "Zur Wasserökologie der höheren Pilze, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung von Waldbrandflächen" ["Water relations in higher fungi with special emphasis on forest-fire areas"].[2] During his time at university, Moser became involved with a number of mycological societies, including the Societé Mycologique de France, the British Mycological Society and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mykologie.
Due to his doctoral thesis, Moser received a research grant from the British Council and, in 1951, he moved to England, where he stayed for six months. There, he performed research in the laboratory of Jack Harley in Oxford, looking into the symbiosis between fungi and forest trees, and spent some time performing taxonomic studies at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.[5] After his return to Austria, he was, in 1952, offered a research post at the Federal Institute for Forestry Research at Imst, which he accepted. There, he used 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 ectotrophic mycorrhizal fungi for the "inoculation" of trees, which later became standard practice around the world.[6] This work later led to Singer to refer to Moser as "one of the pioneers of mycorrhiza research, both basic and applied."[7]
In his time at the Federal Institute, Moser continued his taxonomic studies. In 1953, he published the first edition of his Die Blätter und Bauchpilze (Agaricales und Gastromycetes), a monograph of the Agaricales and Gastromycetes of central Europe,[6] containing 3150 taxa.[8] The work served as an update on Adalbert Ricken's Vademecum für Pilzfreunde, though reflecting Moser's taxonomic views, which were highly influenced by Singer.[8] The book was part of a series named Kleine Kryptogamenflora von Mitteleuropa, edited by Helmut Gams.[6] The work, which became known simply as "Moser", was updated and republished numerous times over the following decades, and translated into English and Italian.[8] His monograph of the Agaricales was also published separately from this work. René Pomerleau described a 1967 reprint of the Agaricales monograph, containing descriptions of 2547 species, as "probably the most complete and up-to-date descriptive flora of this group of fungi for central Europe".[9] Die Blätter und Bauchpilze (Agaricales und Gastromycetes) became important for the study of biodiversity in and out of Europe,[6] and was a "much used and appreciated field manual".[7] The work continued to be used as an authoritative reference for several decades; in 1981, it was still being called "the most-used and most authoritative handbook on larger European fleshy fungi".[10]
In 1956, Moser began lecturing on microbiology at the University of Innsbruck, with the title of "Privatdozent".[8] During this time, he continued to publish. His monograph on the genus "Phlegmacium", now considered to be part of Cortinarius, was published in 1960[6] as part of Die Pilze Mitteleuropas series.[11] Unlike the previous three books in the series, which were all written by German authors, the work addressed mushrooms which were of less interest to amateur mycologists; for instance, the genus was not considered of much interest in terms of edible mushrooms. The book did draw on Moser's expertise concerning mycorrhizal relationships. The work listed 166 species, including some "exotic" species, and some described for the first time in that volume.[7] The illustrations, which came in the form a number of coloured plates,[11] 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."[12] Discussing the book as a whole, Singer said that "this volume outstanding for its good print, attractive appearance, and interesting contents, should be present in every mycological library".[12]
In 1963, Moser published a second work in the Kleine Kryptogamenflora von Mitteleuropa series,[8] Ascomyceten (Schlauchpilze).[13] This work was a monograph of Ascomycetes,[6] focussing on the Discomycetes.[13] Though not as well known as his earlier book,[8] it was well received in the mycological community. Mycologist Richard Korf, reviewing the work in an article published in Mycologia, said that "the book belongs on the shelf of every mycological library in Europe", praising the "[e]xcellent, workable keys to the orders, families, genera, and European species". Korf wrote that, "[i]f a single fault can be found, it is surely the lack of documentation provided."[13] However, a combination of a lack of time and Moser's comparative lack of expertise in Ascomycetes prevented subsequent editions of the work.[8]
Moser was promoted to Associate University Professor in 1964, and, two years later, the Faculty of Science of the University of Innsbruck recommended that a chair of microbiology should be created at the Botanical Institute in Innsbruck. The Federal Ministry of Education accepted the recommendation. Moser was the only candidate for the position, and was unanimously named by a number of leading European botanists and mycologists for the post in 1967. As such, 1972 saw the foundation of the first Institute of Microbiology in Austria, with Moser at its head.[6] He remained in charge of the institute until his retirement. He taught on a wide range of subjects, including the taxonomy of fungi, ecology of fungi, mycogeography, bacteria, viruses, chemotaxonomy, molecular genetics, microbial toxicology, immunology and symbiosis. During his career at the university, he oversaw over 60 doctoral theses, in addition to a number of diploma theses.[8]
Moser, in 1975, published Cortinarius Fr. und nahe verwandte Gattungen in Südamerika,[6] which was coauthored by Egon Horak.[14] The work, along with his earlier monograph of "Phlegmacium", proved to be some of Moser's most important, serving to encourage others to engage with Cortinarius in a meaningful way.[6] Cortinarius Fr. und nahe verwandte Gattungen in Südamerika was a study of Cortinarius, Dermocybe and Stephanopus, a new genus first described in that work, in South America, and was dedicated to Singer. The work contained descriptions of 276 new species.[14] Alexander H. Smith stressed the significance of the work, saying "Anyone who has not worked in the systematics of Cortinarius cannot fully appreciate the magnitude and importance of this work to the general subject of the distribution and speciation of the higher fungi."[15]
In 1991, at the earliest possible date, Moser retired from his teaching position to avoid the administrative burden and to focus on his research into Cortinarius and related genera. He continued to write up until his death.[6] After his retirement, he continued to work heavily, typically beginning work at 5 am. He died on 30 September 2002. After returning from 7th International Congress in Oslo, Norway, he suffered a series of heart attacks. After being admitted to hospital, his condition rapidly declined before his death.[16] Egon Horak and colleagues, writing for the journal Mycological Research, described Moser's death as "an irreplaceable loss to the international community of mycological science."[17]
Throughout his life, Moser received a number of awards, including the Clusius Medal (Budapest 1978) and the Kardinal Innitzer Preis (Vienna 1985). In 1986, he was made a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and he became a foreign member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in 1992. He was recognised by a number of mycological societies, including becoming an honorary member of the American Mycological Society in 1992 and Centenary Fellow of the British Mycological Society in 1996. He also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lyon in 1984, and in 1990 was awarded honorary citizenship of Borgotaro, Italy.[18]
The genera Moserella (Pöder & Scheuer, 1994) and Chromosera (Redhead, Ammirati & Norvell, 1995) were named in Moser's honour, as were the species Acariniola moseri (T. Majewsky & J. Wisn.), Collybia moseri ((Antonín & Noordel.) Bon), Conocybe moseri (Watling), Cortinarius moseri ((E. Horak) E. Horak), Cortinarius moserianus (Bohus), Cortinarius meinhardii (Bon), Entoloma moserianum (Noordel.), Gerronema moseri (Singer), Gymnopus moseri (Antonín & Noordel.), Hebeloma moseri (Singer), Hydropus moserianus (Bas), Hygrocybe moseri (Bon), Lactarius moseri (Harmaja), Lasiosphaeria moseri (O. Hilber), Leucoagaricus moseri (Wasser), Peziza moseri (Aviz.-Hersh. & Nemlich), Phaeocollybia moseri (Band.-Muñoz & Guzmán), Psathyrella moseri (Singer), Psilocybe moseri (Guzmán), Pyxidiophora moseri (T. Majewsky & J. Wisn.), Sericeomyces moseri ((Wasser) Heinem.), Thaxteriola moseri (T. Majewsky & J. Wisn.), Tricholoma moseri (Singer), Tricholoma moserinanum (Bon), Tricholoma moseri (Singer), Tubaria moseri (Raithelh.), and Wardomyces moseri (W. Gams).[16]