Biodiversity of lichens, including a world-wide analysis of checklist data based on Takhtajan's floristic regions

Authors: Feuerer, Tassilo¹; Hawksworth, David²

Source: Biodiversity and Conservation, Volume 16, Number 1, January 2007 , pp. 85-98(14)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The similarity of lichenized fungal species composition among the 35 floristic regions recognized by Takhtajan was calculated, based on checklists of 132 geographical units and a first draft of a global checklist of lichens and allied fungi (which lists 18,882 species) to assess biogeographic and biodiversity patters of lichenized fungi. A nearest-neighbour cluster analysis of pair-wise comparisons of species composition data (Jaccard index of similarity) from these geographical units is presented. Four main geographical regions were identified: holarctic, subantarctic/Australian, oceanian, and pantropical. Possible changes of the global species number caused by increasing availability of molecular data are discussed. A prospect on future developments of lichen biodiversity research is provided.

Keywords: Biodiversity; Distribution areas; Lichens; Lichenized fungi; Molecular data

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-006-9142-6

Affiliations: 1: Email: feuerer@botanik.uni-hamburg.de 2: Email: myconova@terra.es

Publication date: 2007-01-01