John W. Thomson

Lichens of Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, with Emphasis on the Impact of Caribou Grazing'

Anaktuvuk Pass in the central Brooks Range of northern Alaska provides a major migration route for the western arctic caribou herd. A por- tion of the herd overwintered in the Anaktuvuk Pass area 8 years prior to sampling. Caribou grazing resulted in the almost complete removal of mac- rolichens in grazed areas and this has been followed by the invasion of crus- tose and squamulose species. An analysis by species biomass composition for grazed and nongrazed areas on both north and south slope exposures revealed a lichen composition of 31 species, with Cladonia stellaris, C. rangiferina, C. arbuscula and C. mitis being the most common and present in almost equal abundance on both exposures. In addition, 288 species in 71 genera are re- ported for the Anaktuvuk Pass area. Aspicilia plicigera (Zahlbr.) Thoms. is reported as a new combination and new to North America. Tundra occupies approximately 15% of the earths land surface, principally con- fined to the northern portion of the Northern Hemisphere (Bliss, 1971). These vast treeless expanses are dominated by prostrate shrubs, short-stemmed herbaceous pe- rennials, lichens and mosses (Billings, 1973). The lichens are particularly important in upland portions of tundra systems where they form extensive mats (Thomson, 1972) that are utilized by caribou and reindeer as a winter food source (Hanson, 1966a; White et al., 1975). Although lichens are more diverse than higher plants in the arctic, most ecological studies have been conducted on higher plants. Lichens are capable of existing in this heat deficient ecosystem, in part because they are highly resistant to frost injury and can survive long periods of inactivity while in a frozen state (Kap- pen, 1973). Consequently, lichens are opportunistic species which are capable of efficiently using favorable conditions present during the brief summer period for pro-

The Lichen Genera Catapyrenium and Placidiopsis in North America

Catapyrenium is a segregate from the better known foliose genus Dermatocarpon. Catapyrenium lachneum is ubiquitous on calcareous soils from the Arctic south to Mexico. Cata- pyrenium tuckermanii, the only species on trees, is common in the Appalachians but ranges to California and Mexico. Catapyrenium cinereum is a northern arctic-alpine species. Catapyrenium plumbeum is a Rocky Mountain species. Several other rock-living species, including C. acarospo- roides, C. compactum, C. granulosum, C. heppioides, C. squamellum, and C. zahlbruckneri, are southwestern. One species, C. caeruleopulvinum, from the Southwest is described as new. Placi- diopsis cervinula is reported as new to North America. Any attempt to identify members of this group of Pyrenomycete lichens in North America has been made exceedingly difficult by the lack of a usable treatment. In addition the species currently placed in these genera have been placed in a number of different genera including Catapyrenium, Cato- pyrenium, Endopyrenium, Endocarpon, Placidium, Verrucaria, but more recently have usually been included with Dermatocarpon. The current author has included within the con- cept of Catapyrenium those species which are crus- tose, areolate to squamulose; have an upper and lower paraplectenchymatous cortex, which are at- tached to the substratum by a basal spongy area of hyphal rhizoids (differing from Dermatocarpon which is usually umbilicate and attached by a hold- fast); perithecia which are immersed and with an excipular wall of tangentially elongate cells which may be pale or darkening, and simple, ellipsoidal, hyaline spores. Placidiopsis differs only in that the spores become septate. These genera occupy a po- sition transitional between Verrucaria, which lacks the lower cortex, but may have a less well-defined upper cortex, and which lacks the lower rhizoidal hyphae; and Dermatocarpon, which is more um- bilicate and attached differently. The species now placed in Endocarpon have brown, muriform spores and algae within the hymenium. A number of species were described by Bouly de Lesdain in a series of papers on New Mexico lichens (1932, 1939, 1942) based upon specimens collected

Lichens Collected on an Alaska Highway Expedition in Alaska and Canada

A total of 622 species and 10 subspecies and varieties of lichens, plus six species of lichenicolous fungi, are reported from Alaska, the Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta, mainly along the Alaska Highway and some of its side roads in lichenologically badly known regions. Anaptychia bryorum is new to the North American Arctic, Gongylia nadvornikii, Lichenodium sirosiphoideum and Stereocaulon capitellatum are new to North America, and Degelia plumbea is new to western North America. Verrucaria lobata Thomson sp. nov. is described from British Columbia. New to Alaska are: Acarospora superfusa, Amygdalaria subdissentiens, Aspicilia ka- relica, A. quartzitica, Bacidia herbarum, Brigantiaea fuscolutea, Bryonora curvescens, Bryoria friabilis, Calicium abietinum, Caloplaca borealis, C. ammiospila, C. sinapisperma, Chaenotheca xyloxena, Cladonia macroceras, C. ochrochlora, Collema crispum, C. curtisporum, Cyphelium tigillare, Graphis scripta, Heterodermia speciosa, Hypocenomyce scalaris, Hypogymnia occiden- talis, Lecanora fuscescens, Lecidea erythrophaea, L. leptoboloides, L. lulensis, L. stenotera, Le- procaulon subalbicans, Leptogium cyanescens, L. teretiuscula, Melanelia sorediata, M. tominii, Nephroma helveticum subsp. sipeanum, Parmelia hygrophila, Parmeliella triptophylla, Pertusaria borealis, Phylliscum tenue, Physcia subtilis, Psora lurida, Psorotichia schaereri, Pyrenopsis poly- cocca, Usnea filipendula, U. wasmuthii, Verrucaria funckii, Xanthoparmelia somloensis. New to Alberta are: Biatora carneoalbida, Bryoria capillaris, Candelariella lutella, C. xanthostigma, Collema furfuraceum, Lecania dubitans, Lecidea albohyalina, L. myriocarpella, Phaeophyscia cernohorskyi, P. hispidula, Ramalina obtusata, Rinodina oregona. New to British Columbia are: Acarospora smaragdula, A. veronensis, Actinogyra muehlenbergii, Adelolechia pilati, Arthror- haphis alpina, Aspicilia anseris, A. caesiopruinosa, A. disserpens, A. fimbriata, A. ryrkaipiae, A. subplicigera, Baeomyces roseus, Biatora carneoalbida, Bryocaulon divergens, Bryonora castanea, Caloplaca ammiospila, C. tetraspora, Catapyrenium cinereum, C. compactum, Cladonia thom- sonii, Collema glebulentum, Kiliasia athallina, Lecidea alpestris, Leciophysma finmarkicum, Le- praria lobificans, Micarea crassipes, Pertusaria alaskensis, P. coriacea, P. gyalectina, Phaeophyscia hirtella, Polyblastia obsoleta, P. terrestris, P. theleodes, Rhizocarpon eupetraeum, R. eupetraeoides, P. umbilicatum fo. pseudospeireum, Rinodina occidentalis, Staurothele drummondii, Thelidium absconditum, Toninia tristis, Usnea angulata, U. capitata, Verrucaria devergens, V. rupestris. New to Yukon are: Actinogyra muehlenbergii, Amygdalaria panaeola, Aspicilia aliena, A. cingulata, A. disserpens, A. heteroplaca, A. ryrkaipiae, A. subplicigera, Bryonora castanea, Bryoria trichodes subsp. americana, Buellia elegans, Calicium viride, Caloplaca crenularia, C. discolor, C. invadens, C. nivalis, C. pyracea, Candelariella athallina, C. dispersa, C. lutella, Cetraria califomica, Cladonia alaskana, C. bacilliformis, C. borealis, C. luteoalba, C. sulphurina, Collema crispum, Dermato- carpon intestiniforme, D. miniatum, Ephebe hispidula, Lecanora atrosulphurea, L. boligera, L. gangaleoides, L. intricata, L. straminea, L. strobilina, Lecidea alpestris, L. lapicida fo. ochracea, L. subcandida, Lecidella carpathica, L. elaeochroma, L. wulfenii, Lepraria caesioalba, Leproloma cacuminum, Leptogium tenuissimum, Melanelia infumata, Micarea peliocarpa, Parmeliella arc- tophila, Peltigera kristinssonii, Polyblastia sendtneri, Psilolechia lucida, Psorotichia schaereri, Rhizocarpon alpicola, R. cinereonigrum, Rinodina bischoffii, Squamarina lentigera, Staurothele elenkinii, Stereocaulon saxatile.

Mycologist's handbook : an introduction to the principles of taxonomy and nomenclature in the fungi and lichens

Mycologists handbook : an introduction to the principles of taxonomy and nomenclature in the fungi and lichens , Mycologists handbook : an introduction to the principles of taxonomy and nomenclature in the fungi ... , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

Lichens of Adak Island, Central Aleutian Islands, Alaska

Two hundred nineteen taxa of lichens including one lichen parasite are reported from Adak Island in the central Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Stereocaulon leprocephalum is new to North America; Caloplaca ferrugineofusca and Verrucaria ditmarsica are new to Alaska. The lichen flora is dominated by wide-ranging arctic-alpine and boreal species; a coastal element is moderately represented, while amphi-Beringian species form a minor element. This phytogeographic pattern is very similar to that of Attu Island, the westernmost Aleutian Island. The Aleutian Islands are a chain of mountainous volcanic islands extending in an arc 1,900 km west from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula approaching the Commander Islands of northeast Asia. Adak Island is in the Andreanof Islands group within the central Aleutian Islands. Adak, the largest (748 km2) of this island group, is dominated by rugged mountainous terrain and broad rolling lowland areas; modified volcanic cones, Mt. Moffett and Adagdak, occur in the northern part and narrow beaches are usually found adjacent to sea cliffs. As one of the central islands in the Aleutian chain, Adak Island is of considerable phytogeographic interest. Hitherto the lichen flora of Adak Island has received little attention. The only existing literature records are found in three reports that collectively report 32 species. Degelius (1937) reported lichen specimens collected by the Swedish botanist Eric Hult6n in 1932 that included 14 lichens from Adak Island. Later, Stair (1948) added five species to the flora based on a collection of W. J. Christian. Hein (1980) increased the list by 13 species. Of the species reported on Adak Island by previous authors only five, Alectoria sarmentosa (Ach.) Ach., Cetraria ciliaris Ach. (= Tuckermannopsis ciliaris), Cladonia pseudoevansii Asah. (= Cladina pseudoevansii), Pertusaria glomerata (Ach.) Schaerer, and Umbilicaria proboscidea (L.) Schrader, were not collected by the present authors. Comparative data from the nearest Aleutian Islands for which the lichen flora is relatively well known are Amchitka Island, 250 km to the west of Adak Island, and Attu Island, 650 km to the west. Thomson and Sowl (1989) reported the known total of Amchitka Island as 149 species and Talbot et al. (1991) reported 160 taxa for Attu Island. In the Tuxedni Wilderness Area of western lower Cook Inlet, Alaska, 1,800 km to the east of Adak Island, Talbot et al. (1992) reported 218 taxa. Caribou were introduced to Adak Island during the 1940s and lichens are known to be important in their diet (Sjenneberg & Slagsvold 1979; Sveinbjornsson 1990). Our qualitative observations of Adak Island lichens suggest that lichen cover may have been reduced due to grazing pressure from caribou. As a pioneering effort, the present study provides a checklist and voucher collection if future range assessment becomes necessary.

Agrestia cyphellata, a New Genus and Species of Lichen in the Usneaceae

various workers, including Grout (1903-10), who observed that the form found in the eastern United States is smaller than that from either Europe or the western United States, and also has only one sporophyte per gametophyte, whereas the other two forms have sporophytes clustered. Dr. A. LeRoy Andrews, to whom grateful acknowledgement is given for examining some of the material, remarks (personal communication) that Limprichts description gives only filamentous paraphyses and says nothing about either paraphyses or antheridia in the leaf axils. Limpricht described the European form, however.

Lichens of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Westernmost Alaska Peninsula

Abstract One hundred eighty-two taxa of lichens including two lichen parasites are reported from Izembek National Wildlife Refuge on the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. Metasphaeria tartarina is new to North America; Scoliciosporum umbrinum is new to Alaska. Wide-ranging, arctic-alpine, and boreal species dominate the lichen flora; a coastal element is moderately represented, while amphi-Beringian species form a minor element. Epigeic lichen abundance is described along a lowland to alpine mesotopographic gradient selected to represent major landscape variation in the refuge. Of six major community types identified, three had significant lichen components.

Lichens from Simeonof Wilderness, Shumagin Islands, Southwestern Alaska

Abstract One hundred eighty-eight taxa of lichens are reported from Simeonof Island in the Shumagin Islands of southwestern Alaska. Wide-ranging arctic-alpine and boreal species dominate the lichens; a coastal element is moderately represented, while amphi-Beringian species form a minor element. The lichen component of Empetrum nigrum dwarf shrub heath, the dominant vegetation type, was analyzed to identify the most frequently occurring lichens within this community.

Lichens from St. Matthew and St. Paul Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska

Abstract One hundred thirty-nine taxa of lichens including two lichen parasites are reported from St. Matthew and St. Paul Islands in the Bering Sea. Caloplaca lithophila is new to Alaska. Wide-ranging arctic-alpine and boreal species dominate the lichens; a coastal element is moderately represented, while amphi-Beringian species form a minor element. In comparison with St. Paul Island, St. Matthew Island is richer in arctic-alpine species.

Lichens of Tuxedni Wilderness area, Alaska

A total of 218 taxa of lichens, including one lichenicolous fungus, is reported from Tuxedni Wilderness area in western lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. Lecanora epanora, Micarea denigrata, and Trapeliopsis flexuosa, are new to Alaska. Xanthoria alaskana Thomson sp. nov. is described. Compared with lichen distribution in British Columbia, the lichen flora of the Tuxedni area falls into five distributional categories, the majority of species occurring in coastal, wet interior, and alpine and subalpine ecological-geographic subdivisions. The most important northern hemisphere distributional categories are wide-ranging circumpolar arctic-alpine and boreal, western North American, and amphi-Beringian.