Lichen community changes were investigated on trees within a colony of great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) established in a pine forest on the Curonian Spit, western Lithuania. The impact of birds on the forest has altered the number and characteristics of substrata available to lichens. The lowest number of lichen species and occurrences was registered on trees in the most active part of the colony with the highest nest density. Lichen community patterns were most strongly related to P and Ca content in substrata and pH values. Some acidophytic species showed negative correlations, both with long-term and short-term ornithogenic influence. However, three acidophytes (Chaenotheca ferruginea, Lepraria incana, Coenogonium pineti) demonstrated an affinity for the transitional zone and recently occupied trees, and furthermore, C. pineti apparently reacted positively to a short-term ornithogenic influence but negatively to a long-term one. These three lichens, along with algae, were the main, and often the only, components of epiphytic communities on trees at the edge of the colony and apparently indicated the crucial point of the acidophytic community under the increasing load of nutrients. All nitrophytic species showed an affinity for a long-term bird influence and reacted negatively to a short-term influence. Only free-living algae (predominating species Desmococcus olivaceus) showed a clear affinity for trees occupied by bird nests. Hypogymnia physodes was found to be an indicator for early environmental changes following eutrophication. The study also showed that high concentrations of P did not have a mitigating effect on the detrimental impact brought about by increases in N and pH levels, but was possibly equally detrimental to acidophytic lichens.

Revision of world-wide material of Cryptothecia candida sensu Santesson (1952) revealed that three different species are involved, differing in the shape of their ascomata, chemistry, and distribution. C. candida (Kremp.) R. Sant. s. str. [syn.: Arthonia lacerata Vain.; C. epiphylla R. Sant.] contains 2′-O-methylperlatolic acid and 2′-O-methylanziaic acid (thallus and ascomata C+ red) and has rounded to slightly irregular ascomata; it is a paleotropical species occurring in Africa and SE Asia (absent in Australia). All neotropical populations previously identified as C. candida contain perlatolic acid (thallus and ascomata C−) and are further characterized by their well-delimited, regularly rounded ascomata. The name Cryptothecia filicina (Ellis & Everh.) Lücking & G. Thor comb. nov. [bas.: Ascomycetella filicina Ellis & Everh.; syn.: Myxotheca hypocreoides Ferd. & Winge] is taken up for this taxon. A third species was discovered in material from Australia and China (Hong Kong) and is here described as Cryptothecia irregularis Lücking, Aptroot, Kalb & Elix sp. nov. Its ascomata are radiately elongate and it contains psoromic, subpsoromic, 2′-O-demethylpsoromic, and confluentic acids.

The term gomocyst, introduced by Norman in the last century, has been used to designate lichen thalli consisting of algal colonies embedded in a hyphal envelope. It has been applied to the Moriolaceae, ‘Botrydina’ and several groups in the Lecideaceae s. lat. A preliminary survey demonstrates that the concept encompasses different structures. Nevertheless, and ad interim, the term is here used to describe the small diaspores produced by several species of foliicolous Opegrapha in a peculiar organ, the gomocystangium. Four such species are known in Opegrapha: O. dibbemi sp. nov. in Costa Rica, O. lambinoniiSérusiaux in Zaire, O. luzonensis sp. nov. in the Philippines and O. santessonii sp. nov. in Zaire, but foliicolous lichen thalli with goniocystangia are known from undisturbed rain forests at low elevations in four continents.

Based on collections gathered by H. Streimann and J. A. Elix in Papua New Guinea, Australia (including Tasmania), and Vanuatu, five new foliicolous lichen species are described: Calenia bullatinoides Lücking, Eremothecella cyaneoides Lücking, Fellhanera tasmanica Lücking & Elix, Fellhaneropsis australiana Lücking, and Porina vanuatuensis Lücking. In addition, the following new combinations are proposed: Coenogonium isidiiferum (Lücking) Lücking [Bas.: Dimerella isidiifera Lücking], Coenogonium lisowskii (Vězda) Lücking [Bas.: Dimerella lisowskii Vězda], Coenogonium queenslandicum (Kalb & Vězda) Lücking [Bas.: Dimerella queenslandica Kalb & Vězda], Echinoplaca tetrapla (Zahlbr.) Lücking [Bas.: Gonolecania tetrapla Zahlbr.], and Porina subepiphylla var. australiensis (Lücking & Vězda) Lücking [Bas.: Porina lucida var. australiensis Lücking & Vězda]. Coenogonium piliferum (Vězda) Kalb & Lěcking [Bas.: Dimerella pilifera Vě zda] is placed into synonymy with Coenogonium epiphyllum Vain. An updated checklist of foliicolous lichens from Australia includes 202 species and excludes five previously reported taxa.

A new gall-inducing lichenicolous fungus, Plectocarpon stereocaulicola Kukwa, Etayo and Flakus, is described from Bolivia from the thalli of Stereocaulon sp. The new species is characterized by black, epruinose rounded ascomata with a carbonized surface and a thalline pseudo-margin, as well as a non-carbonized, light brown sterile stromatic tissue in the lower part and 3-septate ascospores becoming brown and ornamented when mature.

The nomenclature and in part also the taxonomy of the following European lichens is discussed: Cladonia cervicornis (Ach.) Flotow subsp. cervicornis and subsp. verticillata (Hoffm.) Ahti comb. nov., C. bacilliformis (Nyl.) Glück, C. portentosa (Dufour) Coem., C. anomaea (Ach.) Ahti & P. James comb. nov. (syn. C. pityrea (Flörke) Fr.), C. conista Robbins ex Allen, C. conoidea Ahti sp. nov. (syn. C. conistea sensu Asah.: contains atranorin and fumarprotocetraric acid, type from England), C. bacillaris Nyl., C. coniocraea auct., and C. ochrochlora Flörke.

The African lichen ‘Cladonia gorgonina (Bory) Eschw.’ is typified and its nomenclatural status reconsidered. Under the valid name Cladonia gorgonea Eschw. it is reduced to the synonymy of Cladia aggregata (Swartz) Nyl. The correct name for Cladonia gorgonina auct. is C. glaucopallida Vainio. A list of the new lichen taxa proposed by J. B. Bory, which were invalidly published by Flörke in 1809, is also presented.

Usnea quercina Bystrek & Gòrzynska, based on heterogeneous type material, is lectotypified and becomes a synonym of U. wirthii P. Clerc. Usnea wirthii is new for South America. A distribution map of U. madeirensis Motyka (Syn. U. silesiaca Motyka) in Europe is given. Usnea hesperina Motyka (Syn. U. elongate Motyka, U. schadenbergiana Göpp & Stein, U. subgracilis Vain., U. subplicata (Vain.) Motyka) is new for Africa, Asia and South America. Usnea hirta (L.) F. H. Wigg. (Syn. U. corrugate Motyka, U. foveata Vain., U. leprosa Motyka) is new for Africa. Usnea subscabrosa Nyl. ex Motyka (Syn. U. santae-annae Motyka) is new for South America. The holotype of U. marocana Motyka (=U. mutabilis Stirt.) was found in LBL.

Under favourable climatic conditions the mycobiont of Coniocybe furfuracea bears masses of conidia in chains on macronematous conidiophores. The same type of conidia were also formed by axenically grown mycobionts which had been isolated from single ascospores. Germinating conidia were found on the thalli. Coniocybe furfuracea is one of the very few lichen mycobionts so far known with a teleomorph and hyphomycetous anamorph.

Caloplaca britannica R. Sant. sp. nov. and C. ceracea Laundon sp. nov. are described, the latter having been erroneously called C. caesiorufa by British authors. Both grow on maritime rocks, but C. ceracea also occurs inland where it is rare. The value of the colour test with C (bleach) in Caloplaca is mentioned.

The family Peltulaceae is currently composed of the three genera Peltula, Phyllopeltula and Neoheppia. The last two genera, both with two species, are distinguished from Peltula only by a small number of morphological characters. The morphology of the genus Peltula varies from peltate-umbilicate thalli to squamulose-semifruticose or squamulose-compound types, as well as subfoliose-compound and crustose types. All types have an upper epinecral layer and possess medullary cavities of various sizes; a lower cortex is normally present but is usually not developed in the subfoliose and crustose types. The genera Neoheppia and Phyllopeltula differ from the common Peltula morphology by crustose-areolate and subfoliose-compound thalli, respectively. Both Neoheppia and Phyllopeltula are additionally characterized by the absence of medullary cavities and lower cortices. To investigate the phylogenetic validity of Phyllopeltula and Neoheppia, we sequenced six loci from representatives of these two genera together with 37 species from Peltula. Despite the relatively high amount of conflict among loci, the results clearly indicate that both Phyllopeltula and Neoheppia are not monophyletic, and are nested within the genus Peltula. Consequently, we subsumed species of these two genera within the genus Peltula.

Field survey by a taxonomist or specialist biologist (‘taxonomic survey’) provides a comprehensive inventory of species in a habitat. Common and conspicuous species are rapidly recorded and search effort can be targeted to inconspicuous or rare species. However, the subjective nature of taxonomic survey limits its usefulness in ecological monitoring and analysis. In contrast, ‘ecological sampling’, focused on the standardized use of repeated sub-units such as quadrats, is designed to quantify the observational error of results, allowing for more robust statistical treatment. Nevertheless, the spatial extent of recording will be lower during ecological sampling, and rarities might be missed. Despite their differences, these two approaches are often assumed to be congruent for decision making. Taxonomic survey is commonly used to identify priority sites for conservation (including species-rich sites, or those with many rare/threatened species) while ecological sampling is used to design conservation strategy by relating species richness or composition to habitat dynamics. If these contrasting approaches are indeed congruent, then trends in species richness and community composition, detected by ecological sampling, will mirror the results of taxonomic survey so that management confidently protects the attributes for which a site was prioritized. This study performed both taxonomic survey and ecological sampling for lichen epiphytes in 13 woodland study sites in Scotland. To understand the procedure of taxonomic survey, fieldwork by a professional taxonomist was structured by effort into 15-minute time intervals. As expected, taxonomic survey discovered more species per site, while ecological sampling (allowing a measure of species frequency) resolved greater variation in community composition. However, the patterns of richness and species composition obtained from the different methods were correlated, suggesting an overall high degree of congruence in identifying and then managing priority sites. Furthermore, when exploring the taxonomic survey in detail, we found that a minimum effort of 45 minutes was required to accurately determine species richness differences among contrasting woodland sites.

The new combination Stereocaulon cumulatum (Sommerf.) Timdal is made for the northern Eurasian and Greenlandic, arctic-alpine, terricolous lichen presently known as Toninia cumulate (Sommerf.) Th. Fr.

The fine-scale genetic variation and population structure of lichen-forming fungi is little known and sampling strategies are rarely recommended or discussed. I tested if the sample sizes of molecular data sets used in recent population studies of Xanthoria parietina revealed all haplotypes potentially present and, accordingly, quantified how many haplotypes were potentially missing in the samples. Data sets were concatenated from two geographical regions in Scandinavia and investigated if the sampling reached saturation at two levels: 1) individual-based using rarefaction curves and 2) population-based using species accumulation curves. At both levels, the matrices of two molecular markers (IGS and ITS) were analysed separately. The molecular markers show similar and parallel patterns in all analyses. Rarefaction analyses did not reveal different patterns for populations in different habitats, i.e., bark and rock. Species accumulation curves estimated with the Chao 1 richness estimator indicated that 23% of the IGS and 8% of the ITS haplotypes were not detected. Corresponding figures from an abundance-based coverage estimator (ACE) were 37% and 18%. Pilot studies are recommended to determine appropriate sample sizes for genetic-based population studies of lichen-forming fungi.

Rhizocarpon smaragdulum Davydov & Yakovchenko sp. nov. is described and a phylogenetic analysis (ITS, mtSSU) is presented, confirming its distinctiveness and indicating a sister relationship with R. suomiense and R. subgeminatum. The species is unique among yellow Rhizocarpon species in having a single hyaline ascospore per ascus. The phylogenetic tree suggests that the number of ascospores per ascus has been reduced in Rhizocarpon more than once during the course of its evolution. Two new distributional records are also reported: Rhizocarpon atroflavescens is new for Siberia and R. norvegicum is new for the Altai Mountains. Rhizocarpon norvegicum in this region grows on rocks and is also lichenicolous on Acarospora bullata.

The importance of the anatomy and fine morphology of reproductive structures for the systematics of the family Parmeliaceae is highlighted by the new genus Notoparmelia, described here for Australasian species of Parmelia. These species were known to form a monophyletic lineage but correlated characters for its delimitation were lacking. A major characteristic used here for the circumscription of this genus is the overlooked apothecial anatomy. The proper exciple is reduced to one layer formed exclusively by large hyphae without any clear branching pattern and embedded in an abundant polysaccharide matrix. This feature differs from the rest of Parmeliaceae which have a stratified three-layered proper exciple composed of a thin hyaline layer, intermediate layer and basal cortex-like structure. The anatomy of proper exciple, together with the thickness of spore walls and other morphological characters such as lobe morphology, pseudocyphellae and rhizine type, allow a precise diagnosis of the new genus. The area of distribution is also useful for characterizing this genus. Sixteen new combinations are proposed.

Lecanora zosterae (Ach.) Nyl. is a distinct species belonging to the Lecanora dispersa group. In the British Isles it is confined to the coast where it grows mostly on the exposed turf above sea cliffs. Some 76% of the population occurs on decayed thrift Armeria maritima. The related Lecanora umbrina (Ach.) A. Massal. is lectotypified; it is the correct name for Lecanora hagenii auct.

Soredia of Peltigera didactyla were cultivated under laboratory conditions in a culture chamber. The developmental stages were observed by light microscopy and macrophotography until thallus formation was achieved; this occurred after a period of five months.