Brian John Coppins

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Brian J. Coppins
Born1949
Pembury, Kent, UK
Alma mater University of Hull
King's College London

University College London
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys
Awards Acharius Medal (2010) [1]
Linnean Medal (2011)
Scientific career
Fields Lichenology
Institutions Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Thesis A taxonomic study of the lichen genus Micarea in Europe  (1982 [1] )
Author abbrev. (botany) Coppins

Brian John Coppins (born 1949) is a botanist and lichenologist, considered a world authority on crustose lichens [2] and a leading expert on the genus Micarea . [3]

Contents

Education

Coppins' interest in lichens was sparked during a field trip to the Scottish island of Handa while studying at Tunbridge Wells Technical School for Boys. [4] While still an undergraduate at the University of Hull, Coppins was the co-author, with D. W. Shimwell, of an important study of lichen dynamics in managed heathland. [2] [5] After receiving his B.Sc. in 1970, [6] Coppins became a graduate student at King's College London and studied lichen ecophysiology under the supervision of Francis Rose but he changed the focus of his doctoral studies to the taxonomy of Micarea species found in Europe.

Career

In 1974 was appointed as an ascomycete taxonomist in the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE). He spent his career there, retiring in May 2009. He received his Ph.D. in 1982 from University College London. [1] His dissertation, supervised jointly by Francis Rose and Peter Wilfred James, was published in 1983. [1] The work was based upon examination of about 3500 lichen collections and involved field work not only in the British Isles but also in Denmark and Sweden. [7] His field research has been mostly in Scotland but he has also collected lichens in "Borneo, Chile, the Carpathians, Thailand, USA, Norway and Canada". [1] He has contributed about 25,000 preserved specimens to the RBGE's herbarium. [8] His co-collectors include Ursula Katherine Duncan, David John Galloway, Peter W. James, and Francis Rose. [9] He also collaborated with in field studies on lichen distributions with Oliver Gilbert, Alan Fryday and Vince Giavarini. [10]

Brian Coppins and his wife Alexandra "Sandy" M. Coppins have worked together for decades, making thousands of lichen surveys. [8] They have also worked to increase awareness of the importance of lichen communities and to conserve "habitats such as the Atlantic hazel woods, Scottish native pinewoods, and alpine areas such as Ben Lawers and the Ben Nevis range". [1] In 2009 they received The Plantlife Award for Contributions to the Conservation of Plant Diversity. [2] In 2016 Brian and Sandy Coppins were jointly awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Scotland and, in addition, the Bob Saville Award from the Wildlife Information Centre in Bo'ness. [8]

Awards and honours

Brian Coppins was the president of the British Lichen Society from 1988 to 1989. He was Senior Editor of the RBGE's Edinburgh Journal of Botany from 1984 to 2001 and continues to serve on the editorial boards of The Lichenologist (since 1983) and the Turkish Journal of Botany (since 2001). [2] [3]

He was honoured in the naming of the fungal genera Coppinsia , [11] Briancoppinsia , [12] and Snippocia . [13]

Selected publications

The standard author abbreviation Coppins is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

Lithographa is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Xylographaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 1857 by Finnish botanist William Nylander, with Lithographa petraea assigned as the type species. This species is now known as Lithographa tesserata.

Xerotrema is a genus of fungi in the family Odontotremataceae. It contains two species. The genus was circumscribed by Martha Allen Sherwood and Brian John Coppins in 1980. The type species, Xerotrema megalospora, is found in the United States and Canada. X. quercicola was added to the genus in 2008.

<i>Micarea</i> Genus of lichen

Micarea is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Pilocarpaceae. The widely distributed genus contains 142 species and new species are described actively. Species in the genus are crustose lichens and their photobiont is a single-celled green alga.

<i>Roccellographa</i> Genus of lichen

Roccellographa is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Roccellographaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Austrian lichenologist Julius Steiner in 1902, with Roccellographa cretacea assigned as the type, and at that time, the only species. Three additional species have since been transferred to the genus from other genera.

<i>Anisomeridium</i> Genus of lichen

Anisomeridium is a genus of lichens in the family Monoblastiaceae. The type species was originally named Arthopyrenia xylogena by Swiss botanist Johannes Müller Argoviensis in 1883; in 1928, Maurice Choisy defined the genus Anisomeridium, designating A. xylogena the type species.

Ameliella is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Lecanoraceae. Described in 2008, the genus contains two species, A. andreaeicola and A. grisea, that were collected from high elevations in the Scottish Highlands. The two species have also been found in single instances in British Columbia and Northern Norway. The generic name is derived from the Greek ameleo, meaning "neglected" or "overlooked"; it was originally intended to be Amelia, which is also the first name of the daughter of one of the authors, but this name had previously been used for another genus and was therefore ineligible for use according to the rules of mycological nomenclature. Ameliella appears to have some similarity with the lichen genus Miriquidica.

Poeltiaria is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Lecideaceae. It was circumscribed in 1984 by lichenologist Hannes Hertel, with Poeltiaria turgescens assigned as the type species.

<i>Porpidia</i> Genus of lichen-forming fungi

Porpidia is a genus of crustose lichens in the family Lecideaceae. Porpidia species primarily inhabit siliceous rocks, pebbles, and stonework, with rare occurrences on bark, wood, and compacted soil. The thallus, or body of the lichen, varies in appearance from thick and crusty to barely visible. It may form a continuous layer or develop cracks resulting in a segmented, areolate structure. The colour of the thallus ranges from grey and white to orange.

<i>Rhizocarpon</i> Genus of lichens in the family Rhizocarpaceae

Rhizocarpon is a genus of crustose, saxicolous, lecideoid lichens in the family Rhizocarpaceae. The genus is common in arctic-alpine environments, but also occurs throughout temperate, subtropical, and even tropical regions. They are commonly known as map lichens because of the prothallus forming border-like bands between colonies in some species, like the common map lichen.

Peter Wilfred James (1930–2014) was an English botanist and lichenologist. He was a pioneer in the study of lichens as environmental indicators, especially of atmospheric pollution.

<i>Catillaria</i> Genus of lichen

Catillaria is a genus of crustose lichens in the family Catillariaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1852. It is the type genus of Catillariaceae, which was circumscribed by Austrian lichenologist Josef Hafellner in 1984.

<i>Lambiella</i> Genus of lichen-forming fungi

Lambiella is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Xylographaceae. The genus was circumscribed by German botanist Hannes Hertel in 1984, with Lambiella psephota assigned as the type species.

Natsurang Homchantara was a Thai lichenologist. In her relatively short career, she specialised in the taxonomy of the family Thelotremataceae, in which she helped describe many new species.

Henricus (Harrie) Johannes Maria Sipman is a retired Dutch lichenologist who specialised in tropical and subtropical lichens and authored or co-authored over 250 scientific publications. He was the curator of the lichen herbarium at the Berlin Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum from 1983 until his retirement in 2010. Between 1990 and 1997 he edited and distributed the exsiccata Lichenotheca Latinoamericana a museo botanico Berolinensi edita.

The British Lichen Society (BLS) was founded in 1958 with the objective of promoting the study and conservation of lichen. Although the society was founded in London, UK, it is of relevance to lichens worldwide. It has been a registered charity since 1964.

Mark Richard David Seaward is a British ecologist and lichenologist. He was awarded the Acharius Medal in 2006 for lifetime contributions to lichenology.

Alexandra "Sandy" M. Coppins is a Scottish lichenologist. She was president of the British Lichen Society from 2002 to 2004.

Rebecca Yahr is an American lichenologist who works at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in Scotland. She was President of the British Lichen Society from 2019 until 2021.

Oliver Gilbert was an urban ecologist and lichenologist. He was a reader in landscape ecology at Sheffield University. He was one of the early users of lichens as indicators of air pollution, and also studied the ecology and diversity of wildlife in urban areas.

Snippocia is a monospecific fungal genus in the family Arthoniaceae. It contains the single species Snippocia nivea, a crustose, corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen. This lichen was previously known as Schismatomma niveum; Snippocia was established to accommodate the species after molecular studies indicated that it did not belong in its previously assigned genus.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Crittenden, Peter. "Brian J. Coppins, Acharius Medallists". International Association for Lichenology (lichenology.org).
  2. 1 2 3 4 Fryday, Alan; Kantvilas, Gintaras; Ellis, Christopher; Crittenden, Peter (2014). "Brian Coppins – A liber amicorum". The Lichenologist. 46 (3): 245–246. doi: 10.1017/S0024282914000061 . ISSN   0024-2829.
  3. 1 2 "Dr Brian Coppins, Research Associate Lichenology". Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
  4. ↑ "British Lichen Society visits Malham Tarn Field Centre". Craven Herald. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  5. ↑ Coppins, B. J.; Shimwell, D. W. (1971). "Cryptogam Complement and Biomass in Dry Calluna Heath of Different Ages". Oikos. 22 (2): 204–209. doi:10.2307/3543726. JSTOR   3543726.
  6. ↑ "Dr Brian Coppins". Lichenology Staff, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
  7. ↑ Hawksworth, D. L. (2007). "Review of A Taxonomic Study of the Lichen Genus Micarea in Europe. By Brian John Coppins. [Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Bot.) 11(2): 17–214.] London: British Museum (Natural History). 29 09 1983". The Lichenologist. 16 (2): 208. doi:10.1017/S0024282984000372. ISSN   0024-2829. S2CID   85314884.
  8. 1 2 3 "Double celebration for Sandy and Brian: Brian and Sandy Coppins have been awarded two top accolades for their research and conservation work". Edinburgh News. 13 December 2016.
  9. ↑ "Coppins, Brian John". JSTOR Global Plants.
  10. ↑ "Oliver Gilbert - obituary". The Independent. 18 May 2005. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  11. ↑ Wijayawardene, Nalin; Hyde, Kevin; Al-Ani, LKT; Dolatabadi, S; Stadler, Marc; Haelewaters, Danny; et al. (2020). "Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa". Mycosphere. 11: 1060–1456. doi: 10.5943/mycosphere/11/1/8 . hdl: 10481/61998 .
  12. ↑ Diederich, P.; Lawrey, J.D.; Sikaroodi, M.; van den Boom, P.; Ertz, D. (2012). "Briancoppinsia, a new coelomycetous genus of Arthoniaceae (Arthoniales) for the lichenicolous Phoma cytospora, with a key to this and similar taxa". Fungal Diversity. 52 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1007/s13225-011-0105-1.
  13. ↑ Ertz, Damien; Sanderson, Neil; Łubek, Anna; Kukwa, Martin (2018). "Two new species of Arthoniaceae from old-growth European forests, Arthonia thoriana and Inoderma sorediatum, and a new genus for Schismatomma niveum". The Lichenologist. 50 (2): 161–172. doi:10.1017/S0024282917000688.
  14. ↑ International Plant Names Index.  Coppins.
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