about

I am a computational Biologist working at the University of Graz (Austria). My research is focused on a special form of mutualism in the kingdom of fungi, commonly called lichens. I combine classical lichenological work (fieldwork, ecology and microscopy) with phylogenetics, genomics and transcriptomics to disentangle phylogenetic relationships and characterize evolutionary patterns in this fascinating group of organisms.

research

Phylogenetics and Taxonomy
My phylogenetic work is centered in the Ostropomycetidae one of the two subclasses of Lecanoromycetes comprised mostly of crustose lichens. Currently my work is focused on the order Baeomycetales and even more specific on the genera Trapelia and Trapeliopsis. To support taxonomic hypotheses I combine the latest phylogenetic analyses with classical lichenological work.

Adaptive evolution and Comparative methods
I use various statistical models to analyze the evolution of characters observed in lichenized fungi. I am specifically interested in the different evolutionary consequences for highly specialized versus generalist lineages.

Comparative Genomics
In my comparative genomics work, I search sequenced genomes for signs of adaptations to different lifestyles and traces of their evolutionary past. I use comparative transcriptomics to study adaptations to different environmental conditions.

publications

2022

Almer, J., Resl, P., Gudmundsson, H., Warshan, D., Andresson, O. and Werth, S. (2022): Symbiont-specific responses to environmental cues in a threesome lichen symbiosis. Molecular Ecology (online early). https://doi:10.1111/mec.16814

Díaz-Escandón, D., Tagirdzhanova, G., Vanderpool, D., Allen, C.C.G., Aptroot, A., Češka, O., Hawksworth, D.L., Huereca, A., Knudsen, K., Kocourková, J., Lücking, R., Resl, P. and Spribille, T. (2022): Genome-level analyses resolve an ancient lineage of symbiotic ascomycetes. Current Biology 32(23): 5209–5218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.014.

Chavarria-Pizarro, T., Resl, P., Kuhl-Nagel, T., Janjic, A., Fernandez Mendoza, F. and Werth, S. (2022): Antibiotic-Induced Treatments Reveal Stress-Responsive Gene Expression in the Endangered Lichen Lobaria pulmonaria. Journal of Fungi 8 (6): 625. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8060625

Resl, P., Bujold, A.R., Tagirdzhanova, G., Meidl, G., Freire Rallo, S., Kono, M., Fernández-Brime, S., Guðmundsson, H., Andrésson, Ó.S., Muggia, L., Mayrhofer, H., McCutcheon, J.P., Wedin, M., Werth, S., Willis, L.M. and Spribille, T. (2022): Large differences in carbohydrate degradation and transport potential among lichen fungal symbionts. Nature Communications 13: 2634. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30218-6

Chavarria-Pizarro, T., Resl, P., Janjic, A., and Werth, S. (2022). Gene expression responses to thermal shifts in the endangered lichen Lobaria pulmonaria. Molecular Ecology, 31, 839– 858. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16281

Spribille, T., Resl, P., Stanton, D.E. and Tagirdzhanova, G. (2022), Evolutionary biology of lichen symbioses. New Phytologist. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18048

Gerasimova, J.V.; Beck, A.; Werth, S.; Resl, P. High Diversity of Type I Polyketide Genes in Bacidia rubella as Revealed by the Comparative Analysis of 23 Lichen Genomes. J. Fungi 2022, 8, 449. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8050449

2021

David Díaz-Escandón, David L. Hawksworth, Mark Powell, Philipp Resl, Toby Spribille (2021): The British chalk specialist Lecidea lichenicola auct. revealed as a new genus of Lichinomycetes. Fungal Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2021.01.007

2020

Toby Spribille, Alan M Fryday, Sergio Pérez-Ortega, Måns Svensson, Tor Tønsberg, Stefan Ekman, Håkon Holien, Philipp Resl, Kevin Schneider, Edith Stabentheiner, Holger Thüs, Jan Vondrák, Lewis Sharman (2020): Lichens and associated fungi from Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. The Lichenologist 52(2): 61-181. doi:10.1017/S0024282920000079

2018

Resl P, Fernandez-Mendoza F, Mayrhofer H, Spribille T. (2018): The evolution of fungal substrate specificity in a widespread group of crustose lichens. Proc. R. Soc. B 285: 20180640. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.0640

Chytrý M, Horsák M , Danihelka J, Ermakov N, German D, Hájek M, Hájková P, Kočí M, Kubešová S, Lustyk P, Nekola J, Pavelková Řičánková V, Preislerová Z, Resl P, Valachovič M (2018): A modern analogue of the Pleistocene steppe‐tundra ecosystem in southern Siberia. Boreas. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12338

2017

Milan Chytrý, Michal Horsák, Vít Syrovátka, Jiří Danihelka, Nikolai Ermakov, Dmitry A. German, Michal Hájek, Ondřej Hájek, Petra Hájková, Veronika Horsáková, Martin Kočí, Svatava Kubešová, Pavel Lustyk, Jeffrey C. Nekola, Zdenka Preislerová, Philipp Resl, Milan Valachovič (2017): Refugial ecosystems in central Asia as indicators of biodiversity change during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Ecological Indicators 77:357-367 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.12.033.

2016

Resl, P., Mayrhofer, H., Clayden, S.R., Spribille, T., Thor, G., Tønsberg, T. and Sheard, J.W. (2016): Morphological, chemical and species delimitation analyses provide new taxonomic insights into two groups of Rinodina. The Lichenologist, 48(5), pp. 469–488.

Spribille, T., Tuovinen, V., Resl, P., Vanderpool, D., Wolinski, H., Aime, M. C., Schneider, K., Stabentheiner, E., Toome-Heller, M., Thor, G., Mayrhofer, H., Johannesson, H., McCutcheon, J. P. (2016): Basidiomycete yeasts in the cortex of ascomycete macrolichens. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf8287

Schneider, K., Resl, P. , Spribille, T. (2016): Escape from the cryptic species trap: lichen evolution on both sides of a cyanobacterial acquisition event. Molecular Ecology Accepted Manuscript. doi:10.1111/mec.13636

2015

Resl, P., Schneider, K., Westberg, M., Printzen, C., Palice, Z., Thor, G., Fryday, A., Mayrhofer, H., Spribille, T. (2015): Diagnostics for a troubled backbone: testing topological hypotheses of trapelioid lichenized fungi in a large-scale phylogeny of Ostropomycetidae (Lecanoromycetidae). Fungal Diversity (in press)

Schneider, K., Resl, P., Westberg, M., Spribille, T. (2015): A new, highly effective primer pair to exclude algae when amplifying nuclear large ribosomal subunit (LSU) DNA from lichens. Lichenologist (in press)

2014

Spribille, T., Resl, P., Ahti, T., Pérez-Ortega, S., Mayrhofer, H., Lumbsch, H.T. (2014): Molecular systematics of the wood-inhabiting, lichen-forming genus Xylographa (Baeomycetales, Ostropomycetidae) with eight new species. Symbolae Botanicae Upsalienses 37(1): 1-87.

© 2022 Philipp Resl