Bernard Goffinet completed his Ph.D. at the University of Alberta, Canada. As a research associate of Dr A. J. Shaw he pursued his interest in the phylogeny of mosses, with a special focus on the evolution of entomophily in the dung mosses. He joined the University of Connecticut in 1999, where he is an associate professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He has co-authored nearly 70 publications. His current research spans choroplast genome evolution in liverworts, the phylogenetic history of the new model taxon, Physcomitrella patens, as well as the evolution of multisymbiosis in lichen-forming fungi.

A. Jonathan Shaw earned his Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Michigan. He was a Post-doctoral Associate at the Natural History Museum, Smithsonian Institution and in the Department of Botany, Duke University, before taking a faculty position in the Biology Department of Ithaca College in 1989. In 1996 he joined the Botany Department (now Biology) at Duke University, where he is currently a Professor. He serves as an Associate Editor for several scientific journals and as Chairman for the Board of Directors, Highlands Biological Station. He has published over 130 scientific papers and book chapters. His research interests include the systematics and phylogenetics of mosses and liverworts and population genetics of peat mosses (Sphagnum).