{{Short description|German lichenologist (born 1968)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Bettina Staiger | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1968}} | birth_place = [[Stuttgart]], Germany | fields = Lichenology | workplaces = [[University of Regensburg]] | alma_mater = University of Regensburg | author_abbrev_bot = Staiger<ref name="IPNI"/> }}
'''Bettina Staiger''' (born 1968) is a German [[lichenologist]] known for her systematic studies of tropical [[lichen]] families, particularly the [[Graphidaceae]]. Born in [[Stuttgart]], she completed her doctoral research at the [[University of Regensburg]] under [[Klaus Kalb]]'s supervision, defending her dissertation on Graphidaceae taxonomy in 2002. Her research combines traditional [[morphology (biology)|morphological]] methods with [[chemotaxonomy]] and [[molecular phylogenetics]], producing influential [[monograph]]s on several lichen [[genera]] including ''[[Haematomma]]'', ''[[Diorygma]]'', and ''[[Ramboldia]]''. She received the prestigious de Candolle Prize in 2004 for her contributions to botanical research.
==Early life and education==
Staiger was born in [[Stuttgart]] and read natural sciences and biology at the [[University of Regensburg]] between 1988 and 1995, a period in which she encountered the tropical lichen specialist [[Klaus Kalb]].<ref name="Kärnefelt et al. 2012"/> She undertook doctoral research under Kalb's supervision on the taxonomically unruly family [[Graphidaceae]] and defended her dissertation in 2002, the resulting [[monograph]] forming the first modern synthesis of the family.<ref name="Clerc 2005"/>
==Research and contributions==
Staiger's scholarship is characterised by meticulous comparative [[morphology (biology)|morphology]] allied to [[chemotaxonomy]] and, subsequently, multigene phylogenetics.<ref name="Clerc 2005"/> The Graphidaceae revision scrutinised more than a thousand specimens representing 175 species and proposed a natural generic framework that has since been widely adopted in tropical lichenology.<ref name="Kärnefelt et al. 2012"/> Beyond Graphidaceae she co-authored substantive treatments of several other genera—''[[Haematomma]]'' (1995), ''[[Diorygma]]'' (2004), and ''[[Ramboldia]]'' (2008)—each study combining phenotype with chemistry and, where available, sequence data.<ref name="Kärnefelt et al. 2012"/>
A collaborative ethos is evident in her editorship, with Andreas Frisch and Udo Lange, of ''Lichenologische Nebenstunden'' (2007), a [[festschrift]] honouring Kalb that gathered studies on tropical [[crustose lichen]]s.<ref name="Kärnefelt et al. 2012"/> Her chapters in the multi-volume ''Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region'' introduced difficult tropical [[lineage (evolution)|lineages]] to a North-American readership and underlined her commitment to accessible synthesis.<ref name="Kärnefelt et al. 2012"/>
==Awards and legacy==
The {{ill|Société de Physique et d'Histoire naturelle de Genève|fr}} cited Staiger's "remarkable fusion of classical and modern methods" when awarding her the de Candolle Prize in 2004 (presented 2005).<ref name="Clerc 2005"/> This award is given every four years by the society to "reward the author or -authors of the best monograph of a genus or family of plants".<ref name="Université de Genève"/> Within Germany she is counted among the post-unification cohort credited with revitalising systematic lichenology and fostering international collaboration.<ref name="Kärnefelt et al. 2012"/> Her Graphidaceae framework continues to guide phylogenetic and [[biogeography|biogeographic]] research, while her methodological rigour influences a generation of specialist monographs.<ref name="Clerc 2005"/> A contemporary review in ''[[The Bryologist]]'' lauded Staiger's thesis as a "splendid work" that "cuts the Gordian knot" of Graphidaceae taxonomy, predicting that its influence on tropical microlichen systematics "cannot be over-estimated" and comparing it to [[Josef Hafellner]]'s seminal 1984 study on [[ascus]] structures.<ref name="Lücking 2003"/>
Some lichen species have been named in honour of Staiger: ''[[Hemithecium staigerae]]'' {{au|Adaw. & Makhija (2005)}},<ref name="Adawadkar & Makhija 2005"/> ''[[Haematomma staigeriae]]'' {{au|Nelsen, Lücking & L.Umaña (2006)}},<ref name="Nelsen et al. 2006"/> and ''[[Graphis bettinae]]'' {{au|Lücking, L.Umaña, Chaves & Sipman (2008)}}.<ref name="Lücking et al. 2008"/>
==Selected publications==
Principal works include her doctoral monograph ''Die Flechtenfamilie Graphidaceae – Studien in Richtung einer natürlicheren Gliederung'' (2002); the two-volume revision of ''Haematomma'' (1995); the first global monograph of ''Diorygma'' (2004); and the emended [[circumscription (taxonomy)|circumscription]] of ''Ramboldia'' (2008), each study setting methodological benchmarks for subsequent taxonomic research.<ref name="Kärnefelt et al. 2012"/>
==See also== * [[:Category:Taxa named by Bettina Staiger]]
==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
<ref name="Adawadkar & Makhija 2005">{{cite journal |last1=Adawadkar |first1=B. |last2=Makhija |first2=U. |year=2005 |title=Some trans-septate species of the genera ''Hemithecium'' and ''Platythecium'' from India |journal=Mycotaxon |volume=92 |pages=387–394 |url=http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cyberliber/59575/0092/0387.htm}}</ref>
<ref name="Clerc 2005">{{cite journal |author=Clerc P. |title=Éloge de Bettina Staiger |trans-title=Eulogy of Bettina Staiger |journal=Mémoires de la Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève |volume=7 |pages=149–152 |year=2005 |url=https://www.unige.ch/sphn/Prixetbourses/PdC/PdC_laudatio/PdC2004_Eloge_B.Staiger.pdf |language=fr}}</ref>
<ref name="IPNI">{{cite web |url=https://www.ipni.org/a/20003291-1 |title=Staiger, Bettina (fl. 1995) |publisher=[[International Plant Names Index]] |access-date=23 May 2025}}</ref>
<ref name="Kärnefelt et al. 2012">{{cite journal |last1=Kärnefelt |first1=Ingvar |last2=Scholz |first2=Peter |last3=Seaward |first3=Mark R.D. |last4=Thell |first4=Arne |title=Lichenology in Germany: past, present and future |journal=Schlechtendalia |volume=23 |year=2012 |page=86 |url=https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Schlechtendalia_23_0001-0090.pdf}}</ref>
<ref name="Lücking 2003">{{cite journal |last=Lücking |first=R. |year=2003 |title=Review of ''Die Flechtenfamilie Graphidaceae. Studien in Richtung einer natürlicheren Gliederung'' |trans-title=The lichen family Graphidaceae: studies towards a more natural classification |journal=The Bryologist |volume=106 |issue=2 |pages=345–347 |doi=10.1639/0007-2745(2003)106[0346:R]2.0.CO;2}}</ref>
<ref name="Lücking et al. 2008">{{cite journal |last1=Lücking |first1=Robert |last2=Chaves |first2=José Luis |last3=Sipman |first3=Harrie J.M. |last4=Umaña |first4=Loengrin |last5=Aptroot | first5=André |title=A first assessment of the ticolichen biodiversity inventory in Costa Rica: The genus ''Graphis'', with notes on the genus ''Hemithecium'' (Ascomycota: Ostropales: Graphidaceae) |journal=Fieldiana Botany |volume=46 |year=2008 |doi=10.3158/0015-0746(2008)46[1:afaott]2.0.co;2 |pages=1–126 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/169217}}</ref>
<ref name="Nelsen et al. 2006">{{cite journal |last1=Nelsen |first1=Matthew P. |last2=Lücking |first2=Robert |last3=Chaves |first3=José Luis |last4=Sipman |first4=Harrie J.M. |last5=Umaña |first5=Loengrin |last6=Navarro |first6=Enia |title=A first assessment of the Ticolichen biodiversity inventory in Costa Rica: the genus ''Haematomma'' (Lecanorales: Lecanoraceae) |journal=The Lichenologist |volume=38 |issue=3 |year=2006 |doi=10.1017/s0024282906005573 |pages=251–262|bibcode=2006ThLic..38..251N }}</ref>
<ref name="Université de Genève">{{cite web |last=Audard |first=Marc |title=Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle, SPHN |website=Université de Genève |date=24 August 2022 |url=http://www.unige.ch/sphn/Prixetbourses/PdC/deCandolle.php |language=fr |access-date=23 May 2025}}</ref>
}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Staiger, Bettina}}
[[Category:1968 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:German lichenologists]] [[Category:German taxonomists]] [[Category:21st-century German scientists]] [[Category:Scientists from Stuttgart]] [[Category:University of Regensburg alumni]] [[Category:Women lichenologists]]