Introduction
John Alan "Jack" Elix is a chemist, lichenologist, and educator from Australia.
Elix is currently a professor at Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. His areas of expertise are: Mycology, Molecular Evolution, Animal, Systematics And Taxonomy, Plant Physiology, Plant Systematics And Taxonomy, Organic Chemical Synthesis, Natural Products, Chemistry, Medicinal And Biomolecular Chemistry, Medical Microbiology
Career
He is internationally recognized for his work in chemotaxonomy and played a key role in bringing it into general use in lichen systematics. He has a substantial experience in collecting, determining and documenting lichens together, with a grasp of the structure, metabolic pathways and taxonomic significance of lichen compounds. He has published over 450 new species and collected more than 50,000 specimens from across Australia and its dependent islands.
His research centered on the families Parmeliaceae, Australia's most diverse and ecologically significant group of lichens, and Physiaceae.
Selected publications
- New species of Parmotrema and Relicina (Ascomycota, Parmeliaceae) from Thailand, with Wetchasart Polyiam - Jan 2003
- Leprose and leproid lichens of the Galapagos, with a particular focus on Lepraria (Stereocaulaceae) and Septotrapelia (Pilocarpaceae), with Frank Bungartz - December 2013
- LIAS light – Towards the ten thousand species milestone, with Gerhard Rambold - January 2014
- New species and new records of the lichen genus Baculifera (Physciaceae, Ascomycota) in Australia, with Gintaras Kantvilas - January 2014
- Three new species of crustose Physciaceae from Guatemala, with notes on some additional species, with Mireia Giralt - April 2014
- A new species of the lichen genus Parmotrema from Argentina (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota), with Andrea Michlig and Lidia Itati Ferraro - December 2014
- Amandinea lobarica, a new corticolous species from Guatemala, with notes on some additional Amandinea taxa, with Mireia Giralt - July 2015
- Evolution of complex symbiotic relationships in a morphologically derived family of lichen-forming fungi, with Ana Crespo - November 2015
- New species and new records of buellioid lichens from islands of the South Pacific Ocean - January 2016
- New and overlooked species from the Galapagos Islands: The generic concept of Diploicia reassessed, with Frank Bungartz - September 2016
- New species and new records of buellioid lichens (Physciaceae, Ascomycota) from New Zealand and Tasmania, with Helmut Mayrhofer - January 2017
- A new species and new records of buellioid lichens (Physciaceae, Ascomycota) from the Kermadec Islands, with Peter James de Lange - January 2017