Teuvo ("Ted") Tapio Ahti (born 1934) is a Finnish

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and lichenologist. He has had a long career at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

that started in 1963, and then following his retirement in 1997, at the Botanical Museum of the

Finnish Museum of Natural History The Finnish Museum of Natural History ( fi, Luonnontieteellinen keskusmuseo, sv, Naturhistoriska centralmuseet), established in 1988, is a research institution under the University of Helsinki in Finland, based in Helsinki, Finland. It is a natur ...

. Known as a specialist 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.Cladoniaceae, Ahti has published more than 280 scientific publications. A ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' was dedicated to him in 1994, and in 2000 he was awarded the prestigious

Acharius Medal __NOTOC__ The Acharius Medal is awarded by the International Association for Lichenology (IAL) for lifetime achievement in lichenology. The organization resolved at its 1990 meeting that it would simultaneously honor professional achievement and c ...

for lifetime contributions to lichenology.

Education and career

Ahti started developing an interest in botany at the age of 15, when he worked on a class project involving collecting 100 species of plants. His attention turned to

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Veli Räsänen Veli Johannes Paavo Bartholomeus Räsänen (24 August 1888 – 16 July 1953) was a Finnish lichenologist. Early life and education Veli Räsänen was born on 24 August 1888 in Simo, Finland. Räsänen's brother was the linguist Martti Räsä ...

pointed them out during a birdwatching excursion in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. His interest was further fuelled when a couple of years later, he had to pass a test on identification of forest floor lichens and bryophytes as part of an application for work at the Finnish Forest Research Institute. He honed his identification skills during another summer job a few years later inventorying reindeer in Lapand. In 1957, he was hired by the provincial Government of Newfoundland to undertake a study of caribou habitat. He collected 3500 specimens from nearly 80 localities across the province; these collections were later used as data in several floristic articles dealing with various lichen taxa. Ahti studied

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

at the

, from where he earned an

MSc MSC may refer to: Computers * Message Sequence Chart * Microelectronics Support Centre of UK Rutherford Appleton Laboratory * MIDI Show Control * MSC Malaysia (formerly known as Multimedia Super Corridor) * USB mass storage device class (USB MSC ...

in 1957, and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in 1961. His

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

was entitled "Taxonomic studies on reindeer lichens (''Cladonia'', subgenus ''Cladina'')". He started employment in 1964 at the University of Helsinki Botanical Garden with the title Curator of Cryptogams, eventually working up to Deputy Head Curator of

Phanerogam A spermatophyte (; ), also known as phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds, hence the alternative name seed plant. Spermatophytes are a subset of the embryophytes or land plants. They inc ...

s during 1965–1968, and then Head Curator of the Division of Cryptogams in 1969. In 1979, Ahti became a professor of Cryptogamic Taxonomy at the University of Helsinki, and a Research Professor at the

Academy of Finland The Academy of Finland ( fi, Suomen Akatemia, sv, Finlands Akademi) is a governmental funding body for scientific research in Finland. It is based in Helsinki. Yearly, the Academy administers over 260 million euros to Finnish research activities. O ...

in 1991. Since retiring in 1996, Ahti has been a research associate with the

in Helsinki. Ahti was president of the International Association for Lichenology from 1975–1981. In addition to numerous research trips within Europe, he has also been to Asia, and North and South America. His

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

lichen research expeditions have taken him to locations such as the

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...

Coast, the northeast coast of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, and the

Sakha Republic Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...

( Russian Arctic). One of his favourite exotic locations was the

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran S ...

mountains of the Venezuelan Guayana, reachable only by helicopter. As of 2017, Ahti had more than 280 publications dealing with lichens,

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

es,

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

, and

phytogeography Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...

. Known as a specialist of the Cladoniaceae, he wrote a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

on this subject for the journal series ''

Flora Neotropica ''Flora Neotropica'' is a series of monographs published by the New York Botanical Garden Press, and is the official publication of the Organization for Flora Neotropica. It covers the taxonomic treatment of American plants and plant families i ...

'', which reviewer William Culberson called "the long-awaited fulfillment of an old promise by one of the world's master taxonomists." In the monograph, Ahti accepted 184 species of Cladoniaceae from the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

, including 29 new taxa. Ahti made the numerous publications of William Nylander generally accessible through a five-volume

reprint A reprint is a re-publication of material that has already been previously published. The term ''reprint'' is used with slightly different meanings in several fields. Academic publishing In academic publishing, offprints, sometimes also known a ...

edition. He has also made the subject of botany and lichens more popular and accessible to the general public through his work with the ''Nordic Lichen Flora'', a series of books describing all lichens found in

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

. Teuvo Ahti is married to botanist

Leena Hämet-Ahti Leena Hämet-Ahti (née Hämet, b. 3 January 1931, Kuusamo) is a Finnish botanist, plant taxonomist, and plant collector noted for being Associate Professor of Botany at the University of Helsinki, and later the Director of the university's Bota ...

, who he met while they were both completing their MSc degrees. They married in 1960, and had a "honeymoon" in

Wells Gray Provincial Park Wells Gray Provincial Park is a large wilderness park located in east-central British Columbia, Canada. The park protects most of the southern, and highest, regions of the Cariboo Mountains and covers 5,250 square kilometres (524,990 hectares or ...

(central

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada), where they collected several thousands of specimens of plants,

es, liverworts, and lichens. In 1967, they collected 3000 specimens of

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

s in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

, northern British Columbia, and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Recognition

A ''

'' was dedicated to Ahti in 1994 for his 60th birthday, titled ''Focus on Lichen Taxonomy and Biogeography: A Festschrift in Honour of Teuvo Ahti''. This publication, part of the ''Acta Botanica Fennica'' series, contains 30 scientific papers written by 45 authors. Ahti was awarded the

in 2000, which is given for lifetime achievement in lichenology. He is an honorary member of the Russian Botanical Society of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

. In 2011, Ahti, along with co-authors , Katileena Lohtander, and Leena Myllys, won the Tieto-Finlandia Award for their non-fiction work ''Suomen jäkäläopas'' ("Finnish lichen guide").

Eponymy

Four

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

and several species have been named to honour Ahti. These include: ''

Ahtia ''Cetrariopsis'' is a genus of foliose lichens in the large family Parmeliaceae. The genus contains three species, including the type, '' Cetrariopsis wallichiana''. Taxonomy ''Cetrariopsis'' was circumscribed by Japanese lichenologist Syo Ku ...

'' ; ''

Ahtiana ''Ahtiana'' is a genus of lichenized fungi known as candlewax lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species ''Ahtiana sphaerosporella'' or the mountain candlewax lichen, found in western North America. Thi ...

'' ; ''

Teuvoa ''Teuvoa'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Megasporaceae. The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed in 2013 by Mohammad Sohrabi and Steven Leavitt with ''Teuvoa uxoris'' assigned as the type species. The genus was s ...

'' ; '' Teuvoahtiana'' ; ''

Parmelia ahtii ''Xanthoparmelia ahtii'' is a rock shield lichen that belongs to the family Parmeliaceae. One previous name for this species was ''Neofuscelia ahtii''. The lichen is uncommon and is listed as imperiled by the Nature Conservatory. Description ...

'' ; '' Lecanora ahtii'' ; '' Cladonia ahtii'' ; '' Caloplaca ahtii'' ; '' Physma ahtianum'' ; '' Ramalina ahtii'' ; ''

Stenocybe ahtii ''Stenocybe'' is a genus of fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are cla ...

'' ; ''

Thelotrema ahtii ''Thelotrema'' is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Graphidaceae, the family to which all taxa in the former Thelotremataceae now belong. Members of the genus ''Thelotrema'' are commonly called barnacle lichens. Species , Species Fung ...

'' ; '' Tuckneraria ahtii'' ; '' Unguiculariopsis ahtii'' ; '' Hypotrachyna ahtiana'' ; '' Melanelixia ahtii'' ; '' Dactylospora ahtii'' ; ''

Neolamya ahtii ''Neolamya'' is a genus of fungi in the class Sordariomycetes. The relationship of this taxon to other taxa within the class is unknown (''incertae sedis''). The genus name of ''Neolamya'' is in honour of Pierre Marie Édouard Lamy de la Chapel ...

'' ; ''

Stigmidium ahtii ''Stigmidium'' is a genus of lichenicolous (lichen-eating) fungi in the family Mycosphaerellaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Italian botanist Vittore Benedetto Antonio Trevisan de Saint-Léon in 1860, with '' Stigmidium schaereri'' assigne ...

'' ; ''

Verrucaria ahtii ''Verrucaria ahtii'' is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. It is found in Finland, Lithuania, Russia, and Switzerland, where it occurs on calcareous pebbles. Taxonomy The lichen was formally ...

'' ; and '' Halecania ahtii'' .

Selected publications

A complete listing of Ahti's scientific publications up to 2017 is given in Belyaeva and Chamberlain's tribute. Some of his major works include: * * * * *

References

Cited literature

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahti, Teuvo 1934 births Living people 20th-century Finnish botanists Finnish lichenologists Acharius Medal recipients University of Helsinki alumni Academic personnel of the University of Helsinki Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences 21st-century Finnish botanists Finnish taxonomists