Dr Paulina Janik
Assistant Professor
Research interests
- Taxonomy, biogeography and ecology of nivicolous myxomycetes.
- Intra- and interspecific morphological and genetical variability of myxomycetes, particularly nivicolous myxomycetes.
Higher education and employment history
- MSc degree at the Jagiellonian University (2008).
- Research Assistant at the W. Szafer Institute of Botany, PAS.
Membership and awards
- Member of International Society of Protistologists (since 2020)
International experience
- Germany (2014) - research training at Institut für Botanik und Landschaftsökologie, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald
- China (2014) - research stay, revision of herbarium collections of nivicolous myxomycetes, Fungarium of Chinese Academy of Sciences (HMAS), Institute of Microbiology
- Spain (2015) - research stay at Real Jardín Botánico, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
- Spain (2016) - scholarship UE SYNTHESYS (ES-TAF-5973) at Real Jardín Botánico, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Research projects
- Preliminary assessment of morphological and genetical traits in the context of comprehensive variability analysis of a nivicolous myxomycete Didymium nivicolum Meyl. in its whole distribution range (2014); grant no. 10/2014, grant "Young Scientists"; W. Szafer Institute of Botany, PAS – project leader.
- Analysis of intra- and interspecific variability of nivicolous myxomycetes in the context of resolving complex taxonomic problems (2015); grant no. 6/2015, grant "Young Scientists"; W. Szafer Institute of Botany, PAS – project leader.
- Analysis of morphological variability and distribution of Andean populations of Didymium nivicolum Meyl. (Myxomycetes) (2016); grant no. 1/2016, grant "Young Scientists"; W. Szafer Institute of Botany, PAS – project leader.
- Analysis of genetical variability of an endemic nivicolous myxomycete Physarum andinum A.Ronikier & Lado (Myxomycetes) (2017); grant no. 1/2017, grant "Young Scientists"; W. Szafer Institute of Botany, PAS – project leader.
- Testing DNA isolation methods from small amounts of herbarium material: is it possible to overcome a major limitation in genetical analyses of myxomycetes? (2018); grant no. 4/2018, grant "Young Scientists"; W. Szafer Institute of Botany, PAS – project leader.
- Mixobiota tropical. VI. Estudio biosistemático de Amoebozoa (Myxomycetes y Arcellinida) de los salares andinos (Neotropical Myxobiota. VI. A biosystematic study of the Amoebozoa (Myxomycetes and Arcellinidae) from the Andean salt flats) (2019-2021); grant no. PGC2018-094660-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE), Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Government of Spain – co-investigator.
Recent publications (selected)
Czachura P., Janik P. 2024. Lophium arboricola (Mytilinidiales, Ascomycota) from conifer resins. Plant and Fungal Systematics 69: 1–6. DOI
Janik P., Malicki M., Ronikier A., Suchan T. 2023. Nowe stanowisko Clathrus archeri (Phallaceae, Agaricomycetes) w Karkonoskim Parku Narodowym. Fragmenta Floristica et Geobotanica Polonica 28: 188–191. DOI
Paul W., Janik P., Ronikier A. 2023. Checklist of Myxomycetes (Amoebozoa) of the Polish Tatra Mts. Acta Mycologica 58: 178396. DOI
Janik P., Shchepin O., Moreno G., Ronikier A. 2022. Contribution to the island biogeography – case study of a nivicolous myxomycete Didymium nivicola (Myxomycetes) from Tenerife. Nova Hedwigia 115: 143–155. DOI
Ronikier A., Janik P., de Haan M., Kuhnt A., Zankowicz M. 2022. Importance of type specimen study for understanding genus boundaries – taxonomical clarifications in Lepidoderma based on integrative taxonomy approach leading to resurrection of the old genus Polyschismium. Mycologia 114: 1008–1031. DOI
Janik P., Szczepaniak M., Lado C., Ronikier A. 2021. Didymium pseudonivicola: A new myxomycete from the austral Andes emerges from broad-scale morphological and molecular analyses of D. nivicola collections. Mycologia 113: 1327–1342. DOI
Janik P., Lado C., Ronikier A. 2020. Range-wide phylogeography of a nivicolous protist Didymium nivcola Meyl. (Myxomycetes, Amoebozoa): Striking contrasts between the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere. Protist 171: 125771. DOI
Janik P., Ronikier M., Ronikier A. 2020. New protocol for successful isolation and amplification of DNA from exiguous fractions of specimens: a tool to overcome the basic obstacle in molecular analyses of myxomycetes. PeerJ 8: e8406. DOI
Feng Y., Klahr A., Janik P., Ronikier A., Hoppe T., Novozhilov Y.K., Schnittler M. 2016. What an intron may tell: several sexual biospecies coexist in Meriderma spp. (Myxomycetes). Protist 167: 234–253. DOI
Janik P., Ronikier A. 2016. Meriderma species (Myxomycetes) from the Polish Carpathians: a taxonomic revision using SEM-visualized spore ornamentation. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 85: 3492. DOI
Wojtczak G., Janik P. 2016. Phytoremediation with Geosiphon-like symbiosis? Environmental Science and Pollution Research 23: 5992–5994. DOI