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Welcome! » Faculty » P. Brandon Matheny


P. Brandon Matheny

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Research Interests

Fungal molecular systematics, evolution of ectomycorrhizal fungi, mycology, biogeography, mushroom taxonomy

We use natural history collections of mushrooms to investigate their systematic and evolutionary relationships. Sequence data are produced to reconstruct phylogenies, which are used to test classifications, morphological species concepts, and history of diversification patterns of mushroom-forming fungi. We are also interested in the evolution of the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbiosis, an important ecological feature, and how this trait has influenced biogeographic distributions and speciation patterns of the fungi involved. Research in our lab also focuses on the identification and taxonomic revision of selected groups of Agaricales. Our current fieldwork emphasizes the accumulation of temperate North American Agaricales and Australian Inocybaceae and closely related taxa. Our lab webpage is currently under construction but soon will be able to provide details on more specific projects, so please stay tuned.

Education

  • 2003 PhD, University of Washington

Selected Publications

  • Matheny PB, Aime MC, Bougher NL, Buyck B, Desjardin DE, Horak E, Kropp BR, Lodge DJ, Trappe JM, Hibbett DS (2009). Out of the palaeotropics? Historical biogeography and diversification of the cosmopolitan mushroom family Inocybaceae. Journal of Biogeography 36:577-592.
  • Hibbett DS, Matheny PB (2009). The relative ages of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms and their plant hosts estimated using Bayesian relaxed molecular clock analyses. BMC Biology 7:13.
  • Matheny PB, Moreau P-A (2009). A rare and unusual lignicolous species of Inocybe (Agaricales) from eastern North America. Brittonia 61:163-171.
  • Matheny PB (2009) A phylogenetic classification of the Inocybaceae. McIlvainea 18:11-21.
  • Ge ZW, Yang ZL, Zhang P, Matheny PB, Hibbett DS (2008). Flammulina species from China inferred by morphological and molecular data. Fungal Diversity 32: 59-68.
  • Padamsee M, Matheny PB, Dentinger BTM, McLaughlin DJ (2008). The mushroom family Psathyrellaceae: evidence for large-scale polyphyly of the genus Psathyrella. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46:415-429.
  • Matheny PB, Vellinga EC, Bougher NL, Ceska O, Moreau PA, Neves MA, Ammirati JF (2007) Taxonomy of displaced species of Tubaria. Mycologia 99:569-585.
  • Matheny PB, Moncalvo JM, Redhead SA (2007) Agaricales. Version 02 May 2007. http://tolweb.org/Agaricales/20551/200.05.02 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
  • Matheny PB, Wang Z, Binder M., Curtis JM, and 21 additional co-authors (2007) Contributions of rpb2 and tef1 to the phylogeny of mushrooms and allies (Basidiomycota, Fungi). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43:430-451. Ammirati JF, Parker AD, Matheny PB (2007) Cleistocybe, a new genus of Agaricales. Mycoscience 48:282-289.
Brandon Matheny

Contact Information

P. Brandon Matheny
Assistant Professor
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
334 Hesler Biology Building And Greenhouse
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-1610

Phone: (865) 974-8896
Email: pmatheny@utk.edu