Myxomycetes

Dr. Carlos Rojas is a full professor at the University of Costa Rica. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Arkansas under the mentorship of Dr. Steve Stephenson. He has been actively working on the ecology of myxomycetes across the Americas, but he has also carried out research in northern Africa, southeast Asia, and central Europe. He has been working in the field of scientific communication as well and has tried to link his interest in myxomycetes with this task. He has edited books on myxomycetes and forest ecology as well as several scientific documents on mycology. He has also published peer-reviewed articles on such topics as environmental education, ethnomycology, urban ecology, biosystems engineering, remote sensing and monitoring, climatology and forest management. Dr. Steve Stephenson retired from the University of Arkansas in 2023. He received his B.S. in biology from the University of Lynchburg and both an M.S and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. He was on the faculty of Fairmont State College (now University) for 27 years before moving to the University of Arkansas in 2003. During his academic career, he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at Himachal University in India in 1987, a Visiting Scientist at the Australian Antarctic Division in 1995, and the William Evans Visiting Fellow at the University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand) in 2003. He is the author or coauthor of 20 books and more than 530 book chapters and papers in peer-reviewed journals. Among his recent books are Myxomycetes: Biology, Systematics, Biogeography, and Ecology (2017, 2021). Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States (2018), and Secretive Slime Moulds: Myxomycetes of Australia (2021).

• 1. The Myxomycetes: Introduction, Basic Biology, Life Cycles, Genetics, and Reproduction2. The History of the Study of Myxomycetes3. The Phylogeny of Myxomycetes4. The Barcoding of Myxomycetes5. Genomics and Gene Expression in Myxomycetes6. Molecular Techniques and Current Research Approaches7. Physiology and Biochemistry of Myxomycetes8. Taxonomy and Systematics: Current Knowledge and Approaches on the Taxonomic Treatment of Myxomycetes9. Ecology and Distribution of Myxomycetes10. Biogeographical Patterns in Myxomycetes11. Techniques for Recording and Isolating Myxomycetes12. Integrated Biology of Physarum polycephalum: Ultrastructure, cell biology, cellular cognition and behavior of plasmodial networks13. Uses, Applications and Disciplinary Integration using Myxomycetes14. Myxomycetes in Education: The Use of These Organisms in Promoting Active and Engaged Learning