Anetta Wieczorek

Seed morphometric characteristics of European species of Elatine (Elatinaceae)

Elatine L. contains ca. 25 small, herbaceous, annual species distributed in ephemeral waters in both hemispheres. All species are amphibious and characterized by a high degree of morphological variability. The importance of seed morphology in Elatine taxonomy has been emphasized by many authors. The degree of seed curvature and seed coat reticulation have been traditionally considered very important in recognizing individual species of this genus. Seed morphometric characteristics of 10 Elatine species, including all European native taxa, are provided on the basis of material from two or three populations of each species. A total of 24–50 seeds were studied from each population, altogether 1,260 images were used for the morphometric study. In total, six parameters were measured from SEM pictures: object surface area, profile specific perimeter (object circuit), rectangle of the object (a) length, rectangle of the object (b) width, angle of the seed curvature, and number of pits in the seed coat counted in the middle row. Our study shows that the range of morphological variation of seeds in European species of Elatine is great, both between the species and the populations. Discrimination analysis showed that all six traits significantly differentiate the populations studied (λ = 0.001, p < 0.001), and the greatest contributions were “number of pits”, “rectangle_a”, and “the angle curvature”. Multidimensional scaling based on a correlation matrix of Mahalanobis distance of the six features studied revealed the greatest similarity between the three populations of E. alsinastrum, E. macropoda, and E. hexandra. Regarding interspecific differences, a Kruskal–Wallis tests showed that, in many cases, lack of statistically significant differences between species relative to the studied seed traits. If distinction of species is only based on seeds, especially if only a few seeds are evaluated, the following species pairs can be easily confused: E. alsinastrum and E. orthosperma, E. hexandra and E. macropoda, E. campylosperma and E. hydropiper, as well and E. gussonei and E. hungarica. We found no diversity in seed coat micromorphology within pits that could have potential taxonomic importance. An identification key and descriptions of species are provided on the basis of seeds traits.

Genetic Variability of the Populations of Zwackhia viridis (Ach.) Poetsch & Schied (Lecanographaceae, Lichenized Ascomycetes) in the Eastern Poland: Geographic Versus Habitat Distance

ABSTRACT: Zwackhia viridis is a crustose lichen being found in forests throughout Poland. It belongs to rare species being labelled primeval forest lichens which are associated with large forest complexes. The eastern populations of Z. viridis were examined using RAPD technique in order to check whether geographic distance affects genetic diversity of the populations under study. The analysis of seven populations of that species showed large intraspecific diversity. The greatest genetic similarity occurred between populations from the north-eastern area of the country, about 300 km away from each other. In dendrograms, only these populations have simple matching distance greater than 50%.

Lichen biota of the Wolin Island (Poland)

Abstract A list of 232 taxa of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi was recorded within the Wolin island, especially, the Wolin National Park. The findings comprise the results of field studies conducted between 1996 and 2008 and those published in earlier works. Some of them are rare in the Polish lowlands.

Additions to the Flora of Lichenized and Lichenicolous Fungi of Bornholm (Denmark)

Abstract: Wieczorek, A., Łysko, A., Popiela, A. & Śliwa, L. 2017. Additions to the flora of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi of Bornholm (Denmark). — Herzogia 30: 304–308. Based on a recent collection from Bornholm island, two lichens, Lecanora thysanophora and Micarea nigella, and two lichenicolous fungi, Dactylospora parasitica and Illosporiopsis christiansenii are newly reported; the first species is new record for Denmark and the others are new to Bornholm.