Lichen species as element bioindicators for air pollution in the eastern United States of America

Lichen element (N, S, metals) indicators of local air pollution load (a widely used technique) are recommended for five predefined regions covering central and southern parts of the eastern United States. The final recommendations integrate the advice of regional lichenologists, information from regional floras, and species abundance data from a United States Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA) lichen database for 11 of the 21 covered eastern states. Recommended species were frequent in their region, easy for nonspecialists to distinguish in the field after training, and easy to handle using clean protocols. Regression models of species abundance in FIA plots from five southeastern states vs. climate, air pollution (both from a regional lichen response model) and type of nearby landcover (from the National Land Cover Database) identified species’ environmental limitations. Punctelia rudecta is recommended for cooler forested uplands of all regions, with three Physcia species combined and Punctelia missouriensis for isolated woodlands or urban areas of three regions. Parmotrema hypotropum and P. hypoleucinum combined (weak environmental limitation) or P. perforatum. and P. subrigidum combined (limited in more polluted areas) are recommended for warmer Coastal Plains in two regions each. Additional species are recommended for single regions. Each species must be quantitatively evaluated in each region, to demonstrate indication reliability in practice and to calculate element data conversions between species for region-wide bioindication.

New records of lichens from the State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan corroborated by ITS sequences

During a survey of the lichens in the state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, many specimens were collected from Peer Chinasi, district Muzaffarabad and characterized using morpho-anatomical, molecular and spot test methods. This yielded two new records for Pakistan, namely Acarospora badiofusca, and Peltigera didactyla, while Punctelia ruderata is taxonomically corrected as it was previously misidentified from Pakistan as Punctelia rudecta. Brief descriptions and phylogenetic analyses of the taxa are given.

DIVERSITY OF FOLIOSE LICHENSPECIES IN AZERBAIJAN

This article consolidates lichenological data on foliose lichens of Azerbaijan and addresses their species diversity. It was determined that the studied lichens belong to classes Eurotiomycetes, Lecanoromycetes and Lichenomycetes of the phylum Ascomycota. They are represented by 166 species, including 8 orders: Caliciales , Candelariales, Lecanorales , Peltigerales , Teloschistales , Umbilicariales , Verrucariales , Lichinales ; 15 families: Candelariaceae, Collemataceae, Lecanoraceae, Lobariaceae, Nephromataceae, Pannariaceae, Parmeliacea e, Peltigeraceae, Peltylaceae, Physciaceae , Placynthiaceae , Stereocaulaceae , Teloschistaceae, Umbilicariaceae, Verrucariaceae; and 51 genera. Such species as Anaptychia elbursiana , Enchylium ligerinum , Phaeophyscia hirsuta , Parmelia fraudans , Physconia perisidiosa , Punctelia rudecta , Tuckermannopsis chlorophylla , and Umbilicaria proboscidea are new to the lichen flora of the studied region. The article provides information on the location in the studied region, the substrate and the ecological group for each species. It was found that the species diversity of foliose lichens is is mainly formed by five polymorphic families, such as Parmeliacea e, Physciaceae , Collemataceae, Peltigeracea e, and Umbilicariaceae, thatcomprise 132 species (79.5% of the total number of species). Among genera, only five of themhave significant species diversity: Peltigera (17 species), Physcia (15), Umbilicaria (13), Collema (9) and Parmelia (5). As for the humidity factor, five groups were distinguished: mesophytes (132 species), xerophytes (17), xeromesophytes (9), hygromezophytes (6), mesoxerophytes(2). As for the substrate, foliose lichens were devided into five ecological and substrate groups: epiphytes (53 species), epilites (48), epigeids (22), epibriophytes (18), eurysubstrate linchens (25).

The checklist of parmelioid and similar lichens in Europe and some adjacent territories: additions and corrections

Additions and corrections to the checklist published in 2008 are presented. Ten additional species are recognized: Allantoparmelia almquistii, Asahinea chrysantha, Hypogymnia bryophila, Hypotrachyna afrorevoluta, Melanelixia glabratula, Parmelia encryptata, Parmelina atricha, P. cryptotiliacea, Parmotrema cinereopruinata, and Punctelia rudecta. Myelochroa subaurulenta is deleted, and Xanthoparmelia perezdepazii is also noted as newly described from the Canary Islands. In addition, Cavernularia hultenii is now placed in Hypogymnia, the Canoparmelia crozalsiana group is included within Parmotrema, and Parmelinopsis is treated as a synonym of Hypotrachyna. The typification of the name Lichen quercinus is also corrected with the designation of the original figure as lectotype, and the new combination Hypotrachyna cryptochlora comb. nov. (syn. Parmelia cryptochlora) is made.

Discrimination of lichen genera and species using element concentrations

The importance of organic chemistry in the classification of lichens is well established, but inorganic chemistry has been largely overlooked. Six lichen species were studied over a period of 23 years that were growing in 11 protected areas of the northern Great Lakes ecoregion, which were not greatly influenced by anthropogenic particulates or gaseous air pollutants. The elemental data from these studies were aggregated in order to test the hypothesis that differences among species in tissue element concentrations were large enough to discriminate between taxa faithfully. Concentrations of 16 chemical elements that were found in tissue samples from Cladonia rangiferina, Evernia mesomorpha, Flavopunctelia flaventior, Hypogymnia physodes, Parmelia sulcata, and Punctelia rudecta were analyzed statistically using multivariate discriminant functions and CART analyses, as well as t-tests. Genera and species were clearly separated in element space, and elemental discriminant functions were able to classify 91–100 of the samples correctly into species. At the broadest level, a Zn concentration of 51 ppm in tissues of four of the lichen species effectively discriminated foliose from fruticose species. Similarly, a S concentration of 680 ppm discriminated C. rangiferina and E. mesomorpha, and a Ca concentration of 10 436 ppm discriminated H. physodes from P. sulcata. For the three parmelioid species, a Ca concentration >32 837 ppm discriminated Punctelia rudecta from the other two species, while a Zn concentration of 56 ppm discriminated Parmelia sulcata from F. flaventior. Foliose species also had higher concentrations than did fruticose species of all elements except Na. Elemental signatures for each of the six species were developed using standardized means. Twenty-four mechanisms explaining the differences among species are summarized. Finally, the relationships of four species based on element concentrations, using additive-trees clustering of a Euclidean-distance matrix, produced identical relationships as did analyses based on secondary product chemistry that used additive-trees clustering of a Jaccard similarity matrix. At least for these six species, element composition has taxonomic significance, and may be useful for discriminating other taxa.