Commission for Lichens
In 1991 the work for the production of a checklist of Mediterranean lichens progressed
rapidly. At a first stage, priority was given to the production of national checklists,
especially for Italy, France and Spain where lichenological research has been most active.
Bibliographic surveys were undertaken for Turkey and Greece.
Meanwhile, the exploration of the countries of which the lichen flora was less known
was actively pursued, with excursions to e.g., Cyprus, Sicily and areas in N Africa. In
1993 the checklist of Italian lichens was published under the auspices of this Commission
and offered at a special rate to all OPTIMA members. An abridged version is being
continuously updated.
From 1991-1995 progress was made on the checklists of Mediterranean lichens for the
Iberian Peninsula, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. These checklists are completed or
nearing completion and awaiting publication. By the end of 1996 the checklists for
Southern France and Slovenia will also be completed.
No updated checklist is available for Albania, Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece,
Lebanon, Lybia, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro and Serbia. For some of these areas there are
rather old checklists or bibliographical lists which could constitute the basis for a
checklist. However, more intensive field work is necessary to have a more satisfactory
idea of their lichen floras.
The future activity of the Commission will concentrate on compiling checklists based on
available literature and stimulating the lichenological exploration of some of the most
poorly-known areas. This will require the organization of international expeditions and
the establishment of a panel of specialists for the identification of particularly
critical groups.
There are already several projects for completing the lichenological exploration of
some of the better-known areas, such as the Project of an Iberian Lichen Flora by the
Spanish Lichen Society and the "Iter Adriaticum" for completing the
lichenological exploration of eastern Peninsular Italy.
The Commission has also begun the compilation of a general Checklist of Mediterranean
lichens. There is an international project of the OPTIMA commission for lichens on the
biodiversity of lichens in the Mediterranean. Compilated lichen checklists for each
country are in preparation.
- For general information
about the project of the OPTIMA commission for lichens, Biodiversity of
Mediterranean Lichens, a pilot project based on new information techniques, click
here: ttp://bkfug.kfunigraz.ac.at/~grubem/medlich.htmlx.
- Additional information about the project is available by email to Pier Luigi NIMIS resp.
the Commission's Secretary (1995-2001):
2004. Checklists for most of
the countries or areas of the Mediterranean
are now published or well advanced. The Commission plans to establish a
connection among the lists on the Internet and to promote the application of
these data to different purposes like the generation of predictive maps by
means of a GIS.
Lichen Commission
Secretary:
P. L. Nimis
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Trieste, Via Giorgieri 10, I-34127 Trieste, ITALY
Tel: +40 568855; Fax: +40 568855; E-mail: nimis@univ.ts.it
Members:
E. Barreno, Valencia
A. Crespo, Madrid
J. M. Egea, Murcia
M. Galun, Tel Aviv
V. John, Bad Dürkheim
X. Llimona, Barcelona
H. Mayrhofer, Graz
D. Ottonello, Palermo
C. Roux, Marseille
M. Seaward, Bradford
