Folia Cryptog. Estonica, Fasc. 57: 73–84 (2020) https://doi.org/10.12697/fce.2020.57.09 Where the interesting species grow – remarkable records of lichens and lichenicolous fungi found during a Nordic Lichen Society meeting in Estonia Ave Suija1, Inga Jüriado1, Piret Lõhmus1, Rolands Moisejevs2, Jurga Motiejūnaitė3, Andrei Tsurykau4,5, Martin Kukwa6 1Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Lai 40, EE-51005 Tartu, Estonia. E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] 2Institute of Life Sciences and Technology, Daugavpils University, Parades 1A, LV-5401 Daugavpils, Latvia. E-mail: [email protected] 3Institute of Botany, Nature Research Centre, Žaliųjų Ežerų 49, LT-08406 Vilnius, Lithuania. E-mail: [email protected] 4Department of Biology, Francisk Skorina Gomel State University, Sovetskaja 104, BY-246019 Gomel, Belarus. E-mail: [email protected] 5Department of Ecology, Botany and Nature Protection, Institute of Natural Sciences, Samara National Research University, Moskovskoye road 34, RU-443086 Samara, Russia 6Department of Plant Taxonomy and Nature Conservation, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 59, PL-80–308 Gdańsk, Poland. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: In August 2019, the Nordic Lichen Society held its bi-annual meeting and excursion in south-western Estonia. The most remarkable findings of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi are recorded herewith, including nine new species (of them two lichenicolous), and one new intraspecific taxon for the country. Full species lists are provided for two notable locations, sandstone outcrop at the river Pärnu and an oak woodland in the Naissoo Nature Reserve, for which no previous data were available, to illustrate the importance of collective survey effort. Kokkuvõte: 2019. a augustis toimus Eestis korraline, iga kahe aasta järel korraldatav Põhjamaade Lihhenoloogide Ühingu kokkutulek ja ekskursioon. Artiklis anname ülevaate huvitavatest lihheniseerunud ja lihhenikoolsete liikide leidudest, sealhulgas üheksa (neist kahe lihhenikoolse) liigi esmaleiust Eestis ja ühe liigisisese taksoni esmaleiust. Lisaks esitatakse lihheniseerunud, lihhenikoolsete ja neile lähedaste seente täisnimekirjad, mis koostati kahe elupaiga – Tori Põrgu Maastikukaitseala liivakivipaljandi ning Naissoo Looduskaitseala koosseisu jääva Naissoo tammiku – kohta. Keywords: new species, red-listed species, sandstone lichens, lichens in oakwood INTRODUCTION Nordic Lichen Society (NLS) is an organization tion to the field activities, Martin Kukwa from of Nordic and Baltic lichenology aiming to share the University of Gdansk gave a lecture and knowledge about lichen diversity between pro- held a workshop about sterile sorediate lichens fessionals and amateurs, and to educate next containing usnic acid and xanthones. generation of researchers and lichen enthusi- asts. The society holds bi-annual meetings and The meetings bring together professionals and excursions mainly within member countries, amateurs, and it is not a surprise that such and this time, the opportunity to organize the gatherings notably raise the knowledge about meeting was given to Estonia. During 6–10 biodiversity of the region (see, e.g., Thell et August 2019, the 23rd NLS meeting was held al., 2014; Holien et al., 2016). Several locally in south-western Estonia, consisting of four new lichenized or lichenicolous taxa have been full-days field excursions to different habitats recorded in recent international lichenological including coastal meadows and dry calcareous gatherings in Estonia: e.g., 17 (of them 10 li- grasslands (alvars), sandstone and limestone chenicolous) species in 14th symposium of Baltic cliffs, and different wooded habitats. In addi- Mycologists and Lichenologists (BLS) (Halonen 74 Folia Cryptog. Estonica et al., 2000), 30 (13 lichenicolous) species in 5. Tori community, Tori borough, Tori cemetery, 5th symposium of International Association of 58.483139ºN, 24.81857ºE Lichenologists (IAL) (Aptroot et al., 2005) and 11 6. Häädemeeste community, Nigula Nature (6 lichenicolous) species in 17th BLS symposium Reserve, Nigula bog study trail, Salupeaksi (Suija et al., 2009). To follow the idea, we asked bog island with old-growth broad-leaved the participants to survey and record as many deciduous forest, 58.018707ºN, 24.68077ºE lichenized and lichenicolous species as possible 8 August 2019 in two locations that represented little-studied 7. Saare County, Muhu island, Muhu com- habitat types in Estonia and from where previ- munity, Nõmmküla alvar, 58.66775ºN, ous data were missing. These habitats were 23.20594ºE middle-Devonian sandstone outcrops at the 8. Saare County, Muhu island, Üügu Nature bank of the Pärnu river in the Tori Põrgu Land- Park, Üügu cliffs and alvar, 58.67169ºN, scape Reserve and oak woodland in the Nais- 23.2373ºE soo Nature Reserve. In this paper, we present 9. Pärnu County, Lääneranna community, findings that (1) represent records of new, rare Puhtu-Laelatu Nature Reserve, Puhtu pen- (with less than ten known localities), protected, insula, old-growth broad-leaved deciduous red-listed or otherwise interesting species in Es- forest, 58.55744ºN, 23.55018ºE tonia from 12 locations that were visited during 9 August 2019 (all localities in Pärnu County) the meeting; and (2) provide full lists of lichens 10. Lääneranna community, Naissoo Nature and lichenicolous fungi found in two study sites. Reserve, Naissoo oak forest mixed with some birches, 58.609033ºN, 24.187376ºE MATERIALS AND METHODS 11. Lääneranna community, Nedrema Na- ture Reserve, Nedrema wooded meadow, Study area 58.538175ºN, 24.071151ºE South-West of Estonia and islands were chosen 12. Pärnu, Tõstamaa borough, Tõstamaa park as the site for NLS meeting because of the rich- around Tõstamaa manor house, park ness of habitats valuable for lichens. During with Acer platanoides, Larix europaea and the 4-days meeting, we visited 12 locations (Fig. Quercus robur, 58.343499ºN, 23.997766ºE 1), covering oak-dominated woodlands, alvars, Species identification sandstone and limestone outcrops, a park around manor house, and old-growth forests. We To confirm field identifications of some speci- made detailed surveys within limited time frame mens, lichen substances were detected using and compiled lists of lichenized and lichenicol- thin layer chromatography method described ous species for two locations (4 and 10 in the in Orange et al. (2001) using solvent system A list below). Short descriptions of these habitats (AS, AT) and C (AT, MK), and DNA sequences are given before their species lists. were analyzed. DNA was extracted with a lysis procedure, amplified, purified and sequenced List of localities following the protocols in Voitk et al. (2020). The internal transcribed spacer (nuITS) region was 6 August 2019 (all localities in Pärnu County, amplified using the primer pair ITS0F / LA-W Kihnu island) (Tedersoo et al., 2008). The voucher specimens 1. Rootsiküla, north-western coast of Kihnu are deposited in BILAS, DAU, GSU, TU, and island, juniper shrubland in pasture and UGDA, and the DNA sequences are accessible the granite stones at the sea, 58.10007ºN, under UDB-codes through public Web output 23.9764ºE UNITE (http://unite.ut.ee; Kõljalg et al., 2013). 2. Rootsiküla, surroundings of Kihnu light- The distribution and rarity data were extracted house, 58.09906ºN, 23.96923ºE from Data management and Publishing Platform 3. Linaküla, wooded and coastal meadows with PlutoF (https://plutof.ut.ee). erratic boulders, 58.137699ºN, 23.966962ºE 7 August 2019 (all localities in Pärnu County) RESULTS 4. Tori community, Tori borough, Tori Põrgu (Tori Hell), sandstone outcrop at the river During the 4-days field excursions, ten new taxa Pärnu, 58.483497ºN, 24.816716ºE for Estonia were recorded, among them seven 75 Fig. 1. The excursion sites of the 23rd Nordic Lichen Society meeting in Estonia lichenized species, one lichenized intraspecific Nature Reserve, Gyalolechia bracteata (Critically taxon and two lichenicolous species. New lo- Endangered and III category), Placidium squamu- calities were found for two threatened and three losum (Near Threatened), Solorina saccata (En- near-threatened species, according to the recent dangered and II category), Vulpicida juniperinus assessment of the threat status of Estonian li- (Near Threatened) in Üügu Landscape Reserve chens (Lõhmus et al., 2019). These species are: on Muhu island. Enchylium limosum (red-listed category Vulner- able) and Lobaria pulmonaria (Vulnerable and III THE SPECIES LISTS protection category), and Cladonia portentosa, Peltigera ponojensis and Sclerophora pallida Abbreviations of the names of collectors and de- (red-listed category Near Threatened, the latter terminers: AS – Ave Suija, AT – Andrei Tsurykau, also III protection category). New localities were IJ – Inga Jüriado, JM – Jurga Motiejūnaitė, MK – found for 14 rare species, i.e species with up to Martin Kukwa, PL – Piret Lõhmus, RM – Rolands 10 localities in Estonia. However, the frequency Moisejevs. Species that are new to Estonia are class sensu Randlane & Saag (1999) changed marked in bold. Lichenicolous / algicolous spe- for one lichenized – Ochrolechia bahusiensis – cies are marked with #, non-lichenized species and for two lichenicolous species – Abrothallus with + and indicator species of Woodland Key caerulescens (from rare to rather rare) and Tri- Habitat (WKH) (Anonymous, 2017) with ! chonectria rubefaciens (from very rare to rare). New, rare, protected,