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The first typification of Lepra Scop. by Pertusaria discoidea (Pers.) Malme (= Lepra albescens (Hudson) Hafellner), made in the Paris Code (1956), is shown to be correct after studies of the original material in the Micheli Herbarium in FI. Details of the latter are given. All later statements about this case, even in the Code, are irrelevant.

Biomonitoring programs enable researchers to evaluate the impacts of pollution over widely distributed geographic areas. Results are presented from a project conducted to compare the biodiversity distributions of pollution-sensitive lichens with lung-cancer mortality patterns in the Veneto region, located in norhtern Italy. Results from this comparison suggest strong links between air pollution and lung cancer. The study of lichen biodiversity included 2425 measurements of epiphytic lichen biodiversity at 662 sites scattered throughout the region of interest. Mortality data at the municipal level were obtained from studies conducted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics. The highest correlation was observed between lichen biodiversity and cancer in young native male residents of the region.

Work is in progress for the completion of a computer-aided key to all lichens known to occur in Italy, which will be freely available online, and as a free application for mobile devices. A first example, concerning the lichens of Northern Italy (2.339 infrageneric taxa), is already available online for testing. A computer-generated but manually edited dichotomous key is invoked for all species previously filtered via a multi-entry interface, where several selected characters can be specified in a single step. To optimize the two query interfaces, two different datasets are used, one for the dichotomous, the other for the multi-entry interface.

Several trace elements discharged by the petrochemical industry are toxic to humans and the ecosystem. In this study, we assessed airborne trace elements in the vicinity of the Map Ta Phut petrochemical industrial complex in Thailand by transplanting the lichen Parmotrema tinctorum to eight industrial, two rural, and one clean air sites between October 2013 and June 2014. After 242 days, the concentrations of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Ti, V, and Zn in lichens at most industrial sites were higher than those at the rural and the control sites; in particular, As, Cu, Mo, Sb, V, and Zn were significantly higher than at the control site ( p  < 0.05). Contamination factors (CFs) indicated that Cd, Cu, Mo, and Sb, which have severe health impacts, heavily contaminated at most industrial sites. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that most elements were associated with industry, with lesser contributions from traffic and agriculture. Based on the pollution load indexes (PLIs), two industrial sites were highly polluted, five were moderately polluted, and one had a low pollution level, whereas the pollution load at the rural sites was comparable to background levels. This study reinforces the utility of lichens as cost-effective biomonitors of airborne elements, suitable for use in developing countries, where adequate numbers of air monitoring instruments are unavailable due to financial, technical, and policy constraints.

Aim The mountain biodiversity is highly threatened by climate change, with many species facing habitat reduction and/or local extinction. Poikilohydric organisms like lichens are extremely sensitive to environmental conditions and changes. A comprehensive overview of the impact of climate change on the future distribution of lichens is still missing. Thus, we quantified the range shift, loss in suitable areas and potential climatic refugia for more than 250 lichens, exploring these trends for each species and grouping them by their ecological needs and functional traits. Location Alps chain and surrounding areas (Europe). Methods We performed species distribution models to investigate the range shifts of 272 lichens under different climate change scenarios. Range shift was investigated by modelling gain and loss in suitability score along the elevational gradient, for each species separately and grouping them based on growth forms and temperature‐affinities. Based on the ‘high suitability score stability’ index we developed maps of potential refuge areas. Results We predicted a huge loss of habitat suitability over time, especially under the SSP5‐5.8. Fruticose lichens and cryophilous species will be the most impacted. Moreover, contrary to the assumption of an upward range shift, most species showed no significant relationship between altitude and increase in habitat suitability, suggesting different redistribution patterns for lichens. In the same way, climatic refugia are not only identified at high elevations but also in deep valleys and cold exposure. Main Conclusions The response of lichens to climate change is extremely heterogeneous, and an upper‐range shift is less common than expected. Spatial redistribution is highly distinct among functional groups. The identified climatic refugia confirm this pattern, underlining the urgent need to improve the conservation effort, especially for fruticose and cryophilic species.

Calabria, the southernmost tip of the Italian Peninsula, is a biogeographically very interesting region for lichenologists, characterised by the abundance of oceanic and suboceanic species with subtropical affinities, but also by the presence of the southernmost outposts of several boreal species on the highest peaks. The lichen biota of Calabria, which began to be intensively studied only from the 1980s, hosts more than 1000 infrageneric taxa. The lichen herbarium of the Botanical Garden of the University of Calabria (CLU) is the most relevant lichen collection from this region. It was established in 1985 and it presently includes 16926 specimens, most of which were collected in Calabria, although there are also several specimens from other parts of Italy and from abroad. This dataset contains 16926 records of lichens for a total of 1316 species. Of the 15219 georeferenced specimens, 10254 were collected in Calabria, while 4965 in other administrative regions of Italy. The dataset is available through GBIF, as well as in ITALIC, the Information System of Italian Lichens.

An outline of the main distribution patterns of lichens in the ecoregions of Italy, accounting for their climatic, geographic, and environmental features, is still missing. On the basis of a GIS-based analysis, we summarized: (1) the main features (e.g., surface, climate, landscape, topographic heterogeneity, bedrock, eutrophication) of the 9 ecoregions adopted in ITALIC, the information system on Italian lichens, and (2) the patterns of richness, functional traits, and ecological requirements of lichens in the ecoregions. Our GIS-based analysis describes for the first time the main features of the 9 ecoregions adopted in ITALIC, highlighting differences which could explain the main lichen patterns. Overall, the exploration of the Italian lichen biota is still a work in progress, some regions being still underexplored, especially in the South, with new taxa being reported every year. Our research could provide a baseline for further advancements in the understanding of species richness and community composition of Italian lichens, at a regional scale.

QUESTION: Poikilohydric organisms can survive desiccation without damage and recover soon after re‐wetting. In this work we explore the realized niches of epilithic, poikilohydric organisms, i.e. lichenized and lichenicolous fungi and bryophytes, grouped into 15 functional guilds based on growth form, reproductive strategy and photosynthetic traits. We hypothesize that in Mediterranean ecosystems, the distribution of these guilds is controlled by water availability and solar radiation, together with characteristics of the substrate. LOCATION: Western Sardinia (Italy). The area hosts Mediterranean Quercus ilex forests on basaltic substrata within an agroforestry landscape. METHODS: The presence or absence of species from each guild was recorded in 1025 small quadrats (10 × 10 cm). Four environmental variables were measured: solar radiation, microtopography (potential water run‐off), substrate roughness and number of cracks. The occurrence of each guild was related to environmental variables using non‐parametric multiplicative regression, and ecological niches of the guilds were derived from those models. RESULTS: The occurrence of all functional guilds varied significantly according to the selected environmental variables. In most cases, solar radiation was the most important variable; TI was included first in the model of two sorediate guilds, whereas four sexually reproducing functional guilds had surface relief as first variable. The growth forms were separated along a gradient of increasing solar radiation, whereas water run‐off and surface roughness mainly discriminated reproductive strategies and photobionts. Vegetatively reproducing guilds with other photobionts than Euphyta‐like pigments were confined to the border of the ecological space, defined by gradients of environmental factors, which was largely occupied by more competitive, sexually reproducing organisms. CONCLUSIONS: Functional traits of epilithic poikilohydric organisms were associated with ecological adaptations to the stressful environment of Mediterranean outcrops. We showed that their response in terms of probability of occurrence is coherent with quantitative gradients of solar radiation and water availability at the micro‐scale.

The Dolichens project provides the first dynamic inventory of the lichens of the Dolomites (Eastern Alps, Italy). Occurrence records were retrieved from published and grey literature, reviewed herbaria, unpublished records collected by the authors, and new sampling campaigns, covering a period from 1820 to 2022. Currently, the dataset contains 56,251 records, referring to 1,719 infrageneric taxa, reported from 1820 to 2022, from hilly to nival belts, and corresponding to about half of the species known for the whole Alpine chain. Amongst them, 98% are georeferenced, although most of them were georeferenced a posteriori. The dataset is available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF; https://www.gbif.org/es/dataset/cea3ee2c-1ff1-4f8e-bb37-a99600cb4134) and through the Dolichens website (https://italic.units.it/dolichens/). We expect that this open floristic inventory will contribute to tracking the lichen diversity of the Dolomites over the past 200 years, and providing the basis for future taxonomic, biogeographical, and ecological studies.

Scientific names are not part of everyday language in any modern country, and their input as strings in a query system can be easily associated with typographical errors. While globally unique identifiers univocally address a taxon name, they can hardly be used for querying a database manually. Thus, matching algorithms are often used to overcome misspelled names in query systems in several data repositories worldwide. In order to improve users’ experience in the use of FlorItaly, the Portal to the Flora of Italy, a near match algorithm to resolve misspelled scientific names has been integrated in the query systems. In addition, a novel tool in FlorItaly, capable of rapidly aligning any list of names to the nomenclatural backbone provided by the national checklists, has been developed. This manuscript aims at describing the potential of these new tools.