László Sándor Lőkös is a Hungarian lichenologist and
curator
A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
of the
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Hungarian Natural History Museum in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
.
Education and personal life
He studied at
Eötvös Loránd University
Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...
public research university in Budapest, gaining a master's degree in 1983 with his thesis titled ''Atomic absorption analysis of heavy metal contents of lichens transplanted in Budapest'' supervised by Klára Verseghy. He was awarded his doctorate in 2005 by University of Pécs.
He is married to Edit Éva Farkas, who is also a lichenologist. They have two children together.
Research career
He worked in the botany department of the University of Veterinary Science, Budapest, for two years (1983–1985). For most of his career, he has been curator of the lichen collection in the Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, after the retirement of Klára Verseghy. After attending and presenting work at the 14th
International Botanical Congress
International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the location rotat ...
(Berlin, 1987), he was inspired to follow a career in lichenology and met international lichenologists who later became collaborators. In 1992 he accompanied Farkas on a year-long visit to the
Natural History Museum, London
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...
, collaborating with David J. Galloway and others.
He has predominantly studied lichen distribution in Hungary, but also undertook field visits to the Balkan Peninsular, Romania and South Korea, among other places, that also considered effects of the environment on lichens. He has undertaken a very substantial amount of fieldwork in Hungary as well as taxonomic studies. The ''
Bacidia
''Bacidia'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Ramalinaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Giuseppe De Notaris in 1846. Species in the genus are crust-like lichens with stemless apothecia; they have green algae (chloroccoid) as p ...
'' s. l. group became his specialist area, but he also investigated other genera and
lichenicolous fungi
A lichenicolous fungus is a parasitic fungus that only lives on lichen as the host. A lichenicolous fungus is not the same as the fungus that is the component of the lichen, which is known as a lichenized fungus. They are most commonly specific to ...
. In 1997 he collaborated in the production of the first red list for lichens in Hungary that resulted in legal protection for 5 species in 2005 and later 12 more. He has added many specimens to the Hungarian Natural History Museum's lichen collection. Together with Farkas, they have characterised 17 new genera and 139 new taxa, and proposed more than 120 new nomenclature combinations. This includes 50 species new to Hungary. Lőkös has also undertaken substantial roles in editing Hungarian books and scientific journals.
Scientific publications
Lőkös is the author or co-author of at least 100 scientific publications. The most significant include:
* Juan Carlos Zamora, Måns Svensson, Roland Kirschner, Ibai Olariaga ... László Lőkös ... and others (2018) Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa. ''IMA fungus'' 9 (1) 167–175.
* E Farkas, L Lőkös and K Verseghy (1985) Lichens as indicators of air pollution in the Budapest agglomeration. I. Air pollution map based on floristic data and heavy metal concentration measurements ''Acta Botanica Hungarica''
Awards
In 2016 he was awarded the Boros Ádám Award jointly with Farkas for their contribution to mapping and identification methods of lichens in Hungary, as well as teaching younger scientists. Two genera, ''
Loekoesia
''Loekoesia'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It contains three species of saxicolous lichen, saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichens. Collectively, the genus occurs in South Korea, Mauritius, and the Unit ...