From Cinderella to Princess: an exceptional hotspot of lichen diversity in a long-inhabited central-European landscape

Jan Vondrák 1 2 , Stanislav Svoboda 1 2 , Jiří Malíček 1 , Zdeněk Palice 1 , Jana Kocourková 3 , Kerry Knudsen 3 , Helmut Mayrhofer 4 , Holger Thüs 5 , Matthias Schultz 6 , Jiří Košnar 1 2 & Jeňýk Hofmeister 7 8

Affiliations

  1. Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-252 43 Průhonice, Czech Republic
  2. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, CZ-370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
  3. Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Department of Ecology, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
  4. Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Holteigasse 6, A-8010 Graz, Austria
  5. Botany Department, State Museum of Natural History, Rosenstein 1, D-70191 Stuttgart, Germany
  6. Biocentre Klein Flottbek, University of Hamburg, Ohnhorststrasse 18, D-22609 Hamburg, Germany
  7. Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
  8. Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Bělidla 986/4a, CZ-603 00 Brno, Czech Republic

Published: 24 March 2022 , https://doi.org/10.23855/preslia.2022.143

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Abstract

Biodiversity is a key criterion in nature protection and often indicates habitats and localities rich in endangered species. Our research, using 48 one-man one-day field trips, located an exceptional lichen diversity hotspot and refugium for rare species, the Týřov National Nature Reserve (Czech Republic, central Bohemia). Within its 410 hectares, we detected 787 species of lichens and related taxa (675 lichens, 35 semilichens, 58 lichenicolous fungi and 19 bark microfungi). This is more species of these organisms than has ever been recorded from such a small area, up to 10 km2, anywhere in Europe (and probably anywhere in the world). The species richness is positively correlated with the habitat heterogeneity within Týřov, which is very far from uniform. In most of the reserve, the species richness is fairly typical for the broader region, and only three sites, with an overall area of a mere 80 hectares, have distinctly higher species richnesses. The most species-rich site, with 502 species, is only about 25 hectares and is distinctly more diverse in habitats than other sites. The enormous importance of Týřov for biodiversity protection is emphasized by the nine species described as new to science: Acarospora fissa, Bacidia hyalina, Buellia microcarpa, Micarea substipitata, Microcalicium minutum, Rufoplaca griseomarginata, Verrucaria substerilis, V. tenuispora and V. teyrzowensis. Three species are new to Europe, 55 to the Czech Republic and 191 species are included in the national Red-list.

Keywords

biodiversity hotspot, DNA barcoding, lichenized fungi, Verrucaria

How to cite

Vondrák J., Svoboda S., Malíček J., Palice Z., Kocourková J., Knudsen K., Mayrhofer H., Thus H., Schultz M., Košnar J. & Hofmeister J. (2022) From Cinderella to Princess: an exceptional hotspot of lichen diversity in a long-inhabited central-European landscape. – Preslia 94: 143–181, https://doi.org/10.23855/preslia.2022.143