Re-evaluating Mycosphaerella and allied genera

Abstract

Even after two centuries of biodiversity studies, we only now start to discover the true extend of the fungal biodiversity that has been living under our noses all along but which we simple could not detect, even if these fungi belonged to economically highly damaging plant pathogenic families like the Mycosphaerellaceae . Only very recently have the affordable tools become available by which to identify and classify these fungi in such a way that we can now establish that much of the previous taxonomic work done on these fungi was done using incorrect or incomplete parameters. This has led to a taxonomic and nomenclatural system for these fungi that has become very obtuse and difficult to work with for both end-users and scientists and these deficiencies are currently actually hampering research into these very damaging plant pathogens. Even after spending five years researching the biodiversity and rectifying taxonomy, while also establishing identification protocols for identifying more than 600 of the most damaging of these fungal species, we still have barely scratched the surface of all the fungi and much more work still has to be done.