Pier Luigi Nimis

{{Short description|Italian botanist and lichenologist}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Pier Luigi Nimis | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = PierLuigiNimis.jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Nimis in August 2004 | birth_name = | birth_date = 1953  | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | siglum = | pronounce = | citizenship = | fields = | workplaces = [[University of Trieste]] | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = University of Trieste | thesis_title = | thesis_url =  | thesis1_year = | thesis2_year = | doctoral_advisors = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = [[Acharius Medal]] | author_abbrev_bot = Nimis | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse = | partner =  | children = | parents = | father = | mother = | relatives = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Pier Luigi Nimis''' is a senior professor of botany (retired in 2023) at the [[University of Trieste]] in Italy. He specialises in [[lichenology]] and [[phytogeography]], including the uses of lichens as indicators of pollution and devising methods for web-based identification keys.

==Early life and education== Pier Luigi Nimis was the first of two boys, growing up in the small town of [[Tarcento]] in [[Friuli]] (NE Italy). His father, Carlo, was an Alpine soldier who survived the Russian expedition of [[World War II]], returned on foot, and became a prosperous baker; his mother, Matilde, was a popular teacher who taught whole generations of young people. Fascinated from a young age by insects, the young Nimis built a remarkable collection of more than 10,000 specimens from the surroundings of his home area, which, however, was swept away by the [[1976 Friuli earthquake]]. Nimis studied at the [[Liceo Classico Jacopo Stellini]] in Udine, after which he went to the [[University of Trieste]], where he worked on a thesis on the thorny-cushions vegetation of the high Mediterranean mountains under the mentorship of [[Sandro Pignatti]]. Post-doctoral research at the [[University of Western Ontario]] (Canada), devoted to the vegetation of the [[Alaska Highway]], tutored by László Orlóci, let him discover the world of lichens, whose study he later pursued with his Master and friend [[Josef Poelt]]. <ref name="Tretiach2023">{{cite journal |last1=Tretiach |first1=M |title= Pier Luigi Nimis. A life for lichens. |journal= The Lichenologist |date=2023 |volume=55|issue=5 |pages=153–159|doi=10.1017/S0024282923000506 }}</ref>

==Career== After his doctorate, Nimis became a member of staff at the University of Trieste and by 1986 he was Professor of Systematic Botany. He has since also held several administrative posts such as the chair of the School of Biological Sciences from 1988 to 1994, Director of the Department of Biology from 1996 to 2001, and Dean of the Doctoral School of Biomonitoring from 2009 until 2011.<ref name="IAL2022">{{cite web |title=Acharius Medallists Pier Luigi Nimis |url= https://ial-lichenology.org/awards/Acharius_Nimis/ |website=International Association for Lichenology |access-date= 4 November 2022}}</ref>

Nimis's research was initially on phytogeography and methods for the joint [[Chorography|mapping]] of plant distribution ranges with multivariate methods, mainly in the Boreal <ref name="NimisPutorana1998">{{cite journal |last1=Nimis |first1=PL |last2=Malyshev |first2=LY |last3=Bolognini |first3=G |last4=Friesen |first4=N |title= A multivariate phytogeographic analysis of plant diversity in the Putorana Plateau (N Siberia). |journal=Opera Botanica |date=1998 |volume=136 |pages=5–72}}</ref> and Arctic zones.<ref name="NimisYukon1989">{{cite journal |last1=Nimis |first1=PL |title= Phytogeographical analysis of a treeline community in northern Yukon (NW-Canada). |journal=Vegetatio |date=1989 |volume=81 |issue=1–2 |pages=209–215|doi=10.1007/BF00045526 |s2cid=39945938 }}</ref> The approach developed by Nimis was inspired by the "Method of the Equiformal Progressive Areas" by [[Eric Hultén]], i.e. the joint mapping of species with similar distribution patterns,<ref name="Hultén1937">{{cite journal |last1=Hultén |first1=E |title= Outline of the history of arctic and boreal biota during the quaternary period: their evolution during and after the glacial period as indicated by the equiformal progressive areas of present plant species. |journal= Stockholm, Thule. 168 Pp. Dissertation, Lund University |date=1937}}</ref> differing in the introduction of [[multivariate statistics]] in the classification of both vegetation data and the distribution ranges of species by multivariate analysis. <ref name="NimisYukon1989"></ref>

Later he began to concentrate on lichens, including their identification and role as [[Foliose lichen|indicators of atmospheric pollution]].<ref name=" Kärnefelt2009">{{cite journal |last= Kärnefelt |first=I |title= Fifty influential lichenologists. |journal= Bibliotheca Lichenologica |date=2009 |volume=200 |pages=283–368}}</ref> After the nuclear accident at [[Chernobyl disaster|Chernobyl]] in 1986 he led programmes to map and monitor levels of radioactive [[caesium]] in [[macrofungi]], forest plants and mosses in Italy.<ref name="IAL2022" /> He extended his research to the use of lichens to monitor [[air pollution]], proposing guidelines for their use as bioindicators and bioaccumulators, and demonstrating a correlation between lung cancer and air pollution by mapping human mortality and lichen biodiversity in the Veneto region of Italy.<ref name="Cgislahi&Nimis1997">{{cite journal |last1=Cislaghi |first1=C |last2=Nimis |first2=P L |title=Lichens, air pollution and lung cancer. |journal=Nature |date=1997 |volume=387 |issue=6632 |pages=463–464|doi=10.1038/387463a0 |pmid=9168106 |bibcode=1997Natur.387R.463C |s2cid=13503673 }}</ref> Nimis was also the co-leader of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop in Wales in 2000 that brought together an international group of researchers working on lichens and air pollution and led to the publication of ''Monitoring with Lichens – Monitoring Lichens'' in 2002. He also published several papers on lichens as agents of biodeterioration processes on stone, suggesting best-practices to deal with lichen growth on monuments. <ref name="Monuments">{{cite journal |last= Nimis |first=PL |title= Artistic and historical monuments: threatened ecosystems. |journal= Frontiers of Life, Part 2: Discovery and Spoliation of the Biosphere, sect. 2: Man and the Environment |date=2001 |pages=557-569}}</ref>

In 1993, Nimis published a comprehensive catalogue of 2145 infrageneric taxa of Italian lichens. In 2016, he updated his work with 23 years of taxonomic, ecological, and molecular phylogenetic work to produce a notably thorough flora that a critical reference for the area.<ref name="Coppins2017">{{cite journal |last1=Coppins |first1=Brian |title=Book Reviews: The Lichens of Italy - a second annotated catalogue by Pier Luigi Nimis |journal=The Lichenologist |date=2017 |volume=49 |issue=5 |pages=545–546 |doi=10.1017/S0024282917000457 |s2cid=90893121 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/lichenologist/article/abs/the-lichens-of-italy-a-second-annotated-catalogue-by-pier-luigi-nimis-2016-trieste-eut-edizioni-universita-di-trieste-pp-739-2-figures-page-size-296205-mm-weight-3-kg-isbn-9788883037542-hardback-price-8000/DF936CEF3E8D1F38C55E7190307453F4 |access-date=12 September 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Nimis's research has also included collaborations on checklists of the lichen biodiversity of the Alps, the Mediterranean and Antarctic regions, as well as development since the 1990s of web-based identification keys that have been applied to several groups of organisms and developed into the ''KeyToNature'' mobile apps from 2015.<ref name="IAL2022" /><ref name="Dryades2022">{{cite web |title=Biodiversity online |url=https://dryades.units.it |website=Project Dryades - University of Trieste |access-date=12 September 2022}}</ref> Presently, Nimis is working on a computer-aided key to all lichens hitherto known from Italy and neighbouring countries, whose publication in paper-form is foreseen for 2026.<ref name="Nimis & Martellos 2020">{{cite journal |last1=Nimis |first1=Pier Luigi |last2=Martellos |first2=Stefano |title= Towards a digital key to the lichens of Italy. |journal=Symbiosis |date=2020 |volume=82 |issue=1–2 |pages=149–155 |doi=10.1007/s13199-020-00714-8 |bibcode=2020Symbi..82..149N |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-020-00714-8 |access-date=1 August 2023|doi-access=free |hdl=11368/2991359 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The keys are being published online in the site of ITALIC, the information system on Italian lichens.<ref name="ITALIC2023">{{cite web |title=Identification keys |url=https://italic.units.it/?procedure=idkeys |website=ITALIC The Information System on Italian Lichens - University of Trieste |access-date=1 August 2023}}</ref>

==Honours and awards== From 1987 until 1993 Nimis was president of the Italian Lichen Society, as well as one of its founders; editor-in-chief of the International Lichenological Newsletter (1997-2000), he was president of the [[International Association for Lichenology]] from 2000 until 2004.<ref name="Honegger2019">{{cite journal |last1=Honegger |first1=R |title= Pier Luigi Nimis, President of IAL 2000-2004. |journal= International Lichenological Newsletter |date=2019 |volume=62, 2 |pages=39–40}}</ref> He was awarded the OPTIMA Silver Medal for the best book on the phytotaxonomy of the Mediterranean area published in the preceding three years (Sevilla, 1993),<ref name="OPTIMA-awards-recipients-to-2019">{{cite web |title=OPTIMA awards |url=https://www.optima-bot.org/index.php/en/en-awards |website=OPTIMA: Organisation for the Phyto-Taxonomic Investigation of the Mediterranean Area |access-date=19 September 2022}}</ref> the International Ferrari-Soave Prize for Biology from the Academy of Sciences of Turin (2009), and the [[Acharius Medal]] for lifelong achievement in Lichenology (Bangkok, 2014).<ref name="Domina2014">{{cite journal |last1=Domina |first1=G |title= The Acharius Medals 2014 awarded to P.L. Nimis and P. Crittenden |journal= Taxon |date=2014|volume=66|pages=40}}</ref>

==Eponymy== Three genera and eight species have been named to honour Nimis: ''[[Nimisia]]'' {{small| Kärnefelt & A. Thell (1993)}}, ''[[Nimisiostella]]'' {{small| Calat., Barreno & O.E. Erikss. (1997)}}, ''[[Nimisora]]'' {{small| Pérez-Ort., M. Svenss. & J. C. Zamora (2023)}}; ''[[Rinodina nimisii]]'' {{small| Giralt & H. Mayrhofer (1995)}}, ''[[Topelia nimisiana]]'' {{small| Tretiach & Vězda (1992)}},<ref name="Hertel et al. 2017">{{cite journal |first1=Hannes |last1=Hertel |first2=Georg |last2=Gärtner |first3=László |last3=Lőkös |title=Forscher an Österreichs Flechtenflora |trans-title=Investigators of Austria's lichen flora |journal=Stapfia |year=2017 |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=1–211 (see pp. 149–150) |language=German |url=https://www.zobodat.at/biografien/Flechtenforschung_Austria_STAPFIA_0104_2_0001-0211.pdf}}</ref> ''[[Sphaerellothecium nimisii]]'' {{small| Brackel & Puntillo (2023)}}.,<ref name="Brackel & Puntillo 2023">{{cite journal |first1=Wolfgang |last1=von Brackel|first2=Domenico |last2=Puntillo |title= Additions to the flora of lichenicolous fungi of Southern Italy |journal=Borziana |year=2023 |volume=4 |pages=5–31 |url=https://www.herbmedit.org/Borziana/Borziana4_005-031.pdf}}</ref> ''[[Sarcogyne nimisii]]'' {{small| K.Knudsen, Kocourk. & Hodková (2023)}},<ref name="Knudsen & al. 2023">{{cite journal |first1=K. |last1=Knudsen |first2=S. |last2=van Zon |first3=A. |last3=Tsurykau |first4=J. |last4=Kocourková |first5= E. |last5=Hodkoavá |first6=A. |last6=Huereca |first7=J. |last7=Malíček |title= Sarcogyne (Acarosporaceae) on calcareous rock in Europe and North America |journal=Herzogia |year=2023 |volume=36 |pages=52–71|doi=10.13158/heia.36.1.2023.52 }}</ref> ''[[Circinaria nimisii]]'' {{small| Sohrabi, H. Mayrhofer, Obermayer & S.D. Leav. (2023)}}, ''[[Coenogonium nimisii]]'' {{small| Malíček & Sanderson (2023)}}, ''[[Tremella nimisiana]]'' {{small| Freire-Rallo, Diederich, Millanes & Wedin (2023)}}, and ''[[Xanthoparmelia nimisii]]'' {{small| Barcenas-Peña, Lumbsch & Grewe (2023)}} <ref name="Muggia et al. 2023">{{cite journal |first1=Lucia |last1=Muggia |first2=Stefano |last2=Martellos |first3=Mauro |last3=Tretiach |title=). A Special Issue dedicated to Professor Pier Luigi Nimis. |journal=The Lichenologist |year=2023 |volume=55 |issue=5 |pages= 151 |doi=10.1017/S002428292300049X |language=English |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/lichenologist/article/special-issue-dedicated-to-professor-pier-luigi-nimis/C0A27E079AD2FE1369748062F1639A9A}}</ref>

==Publications== Nimis is the author or co-author of several books and over 300 scientific publications.

The books include: * Pier Luigi Nimis, Theodor J. Crovello (editors) (1991) ''Quantitative Approaches to Phytogeography.'' Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 280 pp. {{ISBN|978-94010-7426-1}} * Pier Luigi Nimis, Daniela Pinna, Ornella Salvadori (1992) ''Licheni e conservazione dei monumenti.'' CLUEB, Bologna, 166 pp. * Pier Luigi Nimis (1993) ''The Lichens of Italy: An Annotated Catalogue'' Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali Torino, Monograph 12. 897 pp {{ISBN|978-88-86041-02-7}} * Pier Luigi Nimis, Christoph Scheidegger, [[Pat Wolseley|Patricia A. Wolseley]] (editors) (2002) {{doi|10.1007/978-94-010-0423-7_1}} ''Monitoring with Lichens - Monitoring Lichens'' NATO Science Series: IV: (NAIV, volume 7) Springer Dordrecht/Kluwer Academic Publishers. 408 pp {{ISBN|978-1-4020-0429-2}} * Pier Luigi Nimis, Stefano Martellos (2004) ''Keys to the lichens of Italy. Terricolous species.'' Ed. Goliardiche, Trieste, 342 pp. {{ISBN|88-88171-73-8}} * Pier Luigi Nimis (2016) ''The Lichens of Italy: A Second Annotated Catalogue'' Edizioni Università di Trieste, 740 pp {{ISBN|978-88-8303-754-2}}

His scientific publications include:

* Nimis P.L. & Poelt J. (1987) The lichens and lichenicolous fungi of Sardinia (Italy). ''Studia Geobotanica'' '''7''' 1–269. * Nimis P.L. (1996) Radiocesium in plants of forest ecosystems. ''Studia Geobotanica'' '''15''' 3–49. * Cislaghi C. & Nimis P.L. (1997) Lichens, air pollution and lung cancer. ''Nature'' '''387''' 463–464. * Nimis P.L. (1998) A critical appraisal of modern generic concepts in lichenology. ''The Lichenologist'' '''30''' 427–438. * Nimis P.L. (2001) A tale from Bioutopia. ''Nature'' '''413''' 21. * Nimis P.L., Hafellner J., Roux C., Clerc P., Mayrhofer H., Martellos S., Bilovitz P.O. (2018) The Lichens of the Alps. An Annotated Catalogue. ''Mycokeys'' '''31''' 1–634.

==See also== * [[:Category:Taxa named by Pier Luigi Nimis]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nimis, Pier Luigi}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Italian lichenologists]] [[Category:Plant ecologists]] [[Category:Acharius Medal recipients]] [[Category:University of Trieste alumni]] [[Category:Academic staff of the University of Trieste]] [[Category:1953 births]]