Meinhard Michael Moser (13 March 192430 September 2002) was an Austrian mycologist. His work principally concerned the taxonomy, chemistry, and toxicity of the gilled mushrooms (Agaricales), especially those of the genus Cortinarius, and the ecology of ectomycorrhizal relationships. His contributions to the Kleine Kryptogamenflora von Mitteleuropa series of mycological guidebooks were well regarded and widely used. In particular, his 1953 Blätter- und Bauchpilze (Agaricales und Gastromycetes) [The Gilled and Gasteroid Fungi (Agaricales and Gastromycetes)], which became known as simply "Moser", saw several editions in both the original German and in translation. Other important works included a 1960 monograph on the genus Phlegmacium (sometimes considered part of Cortinarius) and a 1975 study of members of Cortinarius, Dermocybe, and Stephanopus in South America, co-authored with the mycologist Egon Horak.
After showing interest in natural sciences in his youth, Moser studied at the University of Innsbruck. His university career began during World War II however, and was soon interrupted by military service. Stationed as a translator in eastern Europe, he was captured and placed in a prisoner-of-war camp. He was released in 1948, subsequently returning to Innsbruck to complete his studies. After completing his doctorate in 1950, Moser worked in England for six months, researching the symbiotic relationships between plants and fungi. Upon his return to Austria, he joined the Federal Forestry Research Institute, where he remained until 1968, conducting influential research on the use of mycorrhizal fungi in reforestation. He began lecturing at the University of Innsbruck in 1956, and in 1972 became the inaugural head of the first Institute of Microbiology in Austria. He remained with the Institute until his retirement in 1991, and his scientific studies continued until his death in 2002. An influential mycologist who described around 500 new taxa, Moser received awards throughout his life, and numerous fungal taxa have been named in his honour.
Life and career
Early life, university, and military service Meinhard Michael Moser was born on 13 March 1924 in Innsbruck, Austria, to Margaretha and Josef Moser. His father was a teacher at a technical college in the city, while his mother was the daughter of the botanist Emil Johann Lambert Heinricher.Horak et al. 2003a, p. 506 Moser attended primary school and grammar school in the city. His interest in natural sciences was cultivated from a young age by Heinricher. Moser's earliest paintings of mushrooms date to 1935, when he was 11 years old.Horak et al. 2002, p. 331
In 1942, Moser enrolled at the University of Innsbruck, taking classes in botany, zoology, geology, physics, and chemistry. Austria was under the control of Nazi Germany at this time, and did not exist as an independent state. Moser became an "authorized mushroom controller and instructor", and was in turn directed to attend mycological seminars around Germany and Austria. At these seminars, he met prominent mycologists, including Ernst Thirring, who introduced Moser to the large genus Cortinarius and its scientific challenges, which remained an interest of Moser's for the rest of his life.
In 1943, aged 19 and after only three terms at Innsbruck, his studies were interrupted by military service. Having shown earlier promise in languages, he was trained as a translator, then sent to the Balkan Peninsula. He continued to have an active interest in mycology, collecting and identifying mushrooms and reading the mycologist Rolf Singer's Das System der Agaricales [The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy].
In 1945, when Moser was 21 years old and still carrying out active military service, he was captured in Czechoslovakia by Soviet soldiers and made a prisoner of war. He was imprisoned in a labour camp in Crimea.Horak et al. 2002, p. 331; Wasser 1995, p. 2 While a prisoner, he was involved in repairing the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Sevastopol.Wasser 1995, p. 3 Working in construction at the camp, he had to labour to his physical limits, and was involved in a serious crash that killed several other prisoners. Moser was released in 1948, and chose to return to his studies at the University of Innsbruck. His first publication came in 1949; "Über das Massenauftreten von Formen der Gattung Morchella auf Waldbrandflächen" ["Mass-fruiting of forms of the genus Morchella on forest-fire areas"] was published in the journal Sydowia.Horak et al. 2002, pp. 331, 508 In 1950, under the supervision of the botanist Arthur Pisek, Moser completed his doctoral thesis, Zur Wasserökologie der höheren Pilze, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung von Waldbrandflächen [Water Ecology in Higher Fungi with Special Emphasis on Forest-Fire Areas]. During his time at university, he became a member of both the Société mycologique de France and the British Mycological Society.Moser et al. 2003b, p. 2 Having become friends with prominent German mycologists during the War, he was keen to re-establish academic relationships throughout Europe in the years following the conflict's resolution.
England and the Federal Institute for Forestry Research Due to the quality of his doctoral work, Moser received a grant from the British Council and in 1951 moved to England, where he stayed for six months. While overseas, he performed research in the laboratory of the forest scientist Jack Harley in Oxford, looking into the symbiosis between fungi and forest trees, and spent some time performing taxonomic studies at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.Horak et al. 2003a, pp. 506–07 In 1952, after his return to Austria, he was offered a post at the Federal Institute for Forestry Research at Imst, which he accepted. There, he applied what he had learnt about the symbiosis of fungi and trees to the practical issue of reforestation in the Alps, and developed a method for the use of ectomycorrhizal fungi for the "inoculation" of trees, which later became standard practice around the world.Horak et al. 2003a, p. 507 Moser remained with the Federal Institute until 1968.
Moser continued his taxonomic studies while at the Federal Institute. In 1953, he published the first edition of Die Blätter- und Bauchpilze (Agaricales und Gastromycetes) [The Gilled and Gasteroid Fungi (Agaricales and Gastromycetes)], a monographic treatment of the Agaricales and Gastromycetes of central Europe. The book listed 3150 taxa.Horak et al. 2002, p. 332 It served as an update to the mycologist Adalbert Ricken's 1918 Vademecum für Pilzfreunde [Handbook for Mushroom Hunters], though reflecting Moser's taxonomic views, which were highly influenced by Singer. The book was part of the series Kleine Kryptogamenflora von Mitteleuropa, edited by the botanist Helmut Gams. The work, which became known simply as "Moser", was updated and republished numerous times over the following decades, and translated into both Italian and English, with the latter being by the naturalist Roger Phillips. Some later versions of the book had a different focus. The mycologist René Pomerleau described a 1967 edition, Röhrlinge und Blätterpilze [Pored and Gilled Mushrooms], containing descriptions of 2547 species, as "probably the most complete and up-to-date descriptive flora of this group of fungi for central Europe".Pomerleau 1968, p. 1126 Die Blätter- und Bauchpilze (Agaricales und Gastromycetes) became important for the study of biodiversity in and out of Europe, with Singer calling the book a "much used and appreciated field manual". The work continued to be used as a standard reference for several decades; in 1981, it was still, in the words of the mycologist Richard P. Korf, "the most-used and most authoritative handbook on larger European fleshy fungi".Korf 1981
University of Innsbruck
In 1956, while still a researcher at the institute,Horak et al. 2003b, p. 3 Moser began lecturing on microbiology at the University of Innsbruck, with the title of Privatdozent. He continued to publish while teaching. His monograph Die Gattung Phlegmacium (Schleimköpfe) [The Genus Phlegmacium (Slimeheads)] addressed Phlegmacium, at the time considered a genus but subsequently sometimes considered part of Cortinarius, and was published in 1960 as part of the series Die Pilze Mitteleuropas [The Fungi of Central Europe].Horak et al. 2003a, p. 507; Singer 1960, p. 823 Unlike the previous three books in the series, which were all written by German authors, the work addressed mushrooms that were of less interest to amateur mycologists; for instance, Phlegmacium was not considered to contain any significant edible species. The book drew upon Moser's expertise concerning mycorrhizal relationships. It listed 166 species, including some "exotic" taxa. Some of the listed species were described for the first time in that volume. The illustrations, which came in the form of coloured plates,Singer 1960, p. 823 were mostly Moser's own work; Singer described these in a review of the book as "both in original execution and reproduction among the best that have been published".Singer 1960, p. 825 Discussing the book as a whole, Singer said that the volume, "outstanding for its good print, attractive appearance, and interesting contents, should be present in every mycological library".
In 1963, Moser published a second work in Kleine Kryptogamenflora von Mitteleuropa, Ascomyceten (Schlauchpilze) [Ascomycota (Sac Fungi)]. This work was a monograph on the Ascomycota, focussing on the "Discomycetes". Though not as well known as his earlier book, it was well received in the mycological community. Korf, reviewing the work for Mycologia, said that "the book belongs on the shelf of every mycological library in Europe", praising the "[e]xcellent, workable keys to the orders, families, genera, and European species". Korf wrote that, "[i]f a single fault can be found, it is surely the lack of documentation provided".Korf 1964 However, a combination of a lack of time and Moser's comparative lack of expertise in ascomycetes prevented subsequent editions of the work.
Moser was promoted to Associate University Professor in 1964. Two years later, the Faculty of Science of the University of Innsbruck recommended that a chair of microbiology should be created at the Botanical Institute in Innsbruck. The Federal Ministry of Education accepted the recommendation. Moser was the only candidate for the position, and was unanimously named by a number of leading European botanists and mycologists for the post in 1967. Moser was promoted the following year.
The president of the Austrian Mycological Society from 1970, Moser took up the position after the death of the previous post-holder, the mycologist Kurt Lohwag, who had, in turn, taken it up after the death of Thirring earlier that year.Krisai-Greilhuber and Moser 1999, p. 102 Moser remained the society's president for 21 years.Hausknecht 2003, p. 210 In 1972, he became the head of the newly established Institute of Microbiology at Innsbruck, the first of its kind in Austria. He remained in charge of the Institute until his retirement. He taught on a wide range of subjects, including the taxonomy of fungi, ecology of fungi, mycogeography, bacteriology, virology, chemotaxonomy, molecular genetics, microbial toxicology, immunology, and symbiosis. During his career at the university, he supervised over 60 doctoral theses, in addition to diploma theses.