GLAL4 will be held between November 28^th and December 5^th 1999, in Bariloche (Argentina). Official languages will be Portuguese and Spanish, although English will be accepted. The definitive program is being prepared, the following activities are confirmed: A - Theoretical-practical Workshops on Cladoniaceae (T. Ahti & S. Stenroos) and on Peltigera (O. Vitikainen). B - Round Tables: 1) Cryptogamic Flora of Tierra del Fuego: lichenised and non-lichenised Ascomycetes and mosses (Coord: I. Gamundí, Argentina). 2) Teaching lichenology at different educational levels (Coord.: M. Falco, Brasil). C - Conferences: 1) C. Brion (Bariloche): Phytogeography of Argentina. 2) S. Eliasaro (Brasil): Parmeliaceae s.str. of the State of Paraná: floristic and taxonomic studies. 3) T. Feuerer (Hamburg): Taxonomic literature on-line: free and rapid access to old literature. 4) G. Follmann. (Köln): New chorological, ecological and phylogenetical observations on South American Roccellaceae (incl PRC analyses). 5) M.P. Marcelli (São Paulo): Biogeography and taxonomy of Parmeliaceae in Brasil. 6) H. Osorio (Montevideo): Lichenology in Uruguay, past and present. 7) I. Pereira (Talca, Chile): Aquatic lichens. 8) E. Stocker (Salzburg): Experimental microbiology of lichens (culture techniques, morphogenesis, secondary chemistry of mycobionts and resynthesis products. Laboratory cultures of selected lichens from Brazil and Chile: HPLC analysis of their secondary compounds, DNA analyses). - Abstracts for the poster sessions will be submitted to a Committee for approval. Other activities are being planned, which will be confirmed as soon as possible. - To receive the Circulars please write to: glal@crub.uncoma.edu.ar, from where you can also get information on hotel reservations. Welcome to Bariloche!

Licons, which will be held at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) Birmensdorf, Switzerland is organised by Ch. Scheidegger with assistance from: W. Strahm (IUCN, Gland), K. Ammann (Planta Europa Bot. Garden, Bern), and P. Wolseley (Natural History Museum, London). The conference will concentrate on conservation biology of lichenised fungi, and in particular on the development of appropriate methodologies. The organisers welcome contributions on the conservation of other ecologically related organisms such as bryophytes, algae and non-lichenised fungi. Potential participants include conservation biologists, lichenologists, mycologists, bryologists and phycologists. Papers and posters will be published and the registration fee, of c.300 Swiss francs, will include the proceedings. There will be a post-conference excursion from Friday September 3^rd to Tuesday September 7^th, (c. 600 Swiss francs). Further information at this address: http://www.wsl.ch/events/events.html. If you are interested, please contact Dr. Ch. Scheidegger, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, fax: (+41) 1-739-2215, e-mail: licons@wsl.ch.

The Michigan State University Herbarium (MSC) is offering a unique opportunity for lichen study. The Herbarium has recently been awarded a grant from The National Science Foundation for curatorial improvement of the collections. A portion of this funding is set aside to cover travel costs for lichenologists interested in performing specimen-based research at MSC. The projects should result in annotation of specimens and other curatorial improvements. Both floristic and monographic projects can be supported. The duration of the visit is open, though we expect that most visits will be for 1-2 weeks. Researchers will be encouraged to set aside specimens for loans for longer-term study. We will soon have a curatorial assistant for lichens (Alan Fryday, PhD Univ. of Sheffield, UK) and we encourage visits after his arrival on June 1^st 1999. The program will continue through fall 2000. The herbarium's lichen collections, of over 145,000 specimens, are among the largest in North America. The collections emphasize the Great Lakes and Rocky Mountain Regions of North America, the Caribbean Islands, Subtropical Latin America, and Southern Hemisphere Islands groups (e.g. Falkland, Kerguelen and Juan Fernandez Islands) as well as an extensive set of exsiccata. Many of the specimens were collected by Dr. Henry Imshaug and his students in the 1940s-1970s, and have only recently been accessioned and made available for study. For information please contact Dr. Alan Prather, Michigan State University Herbarium, Department of Botany & Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1312. Phone: (+1) 517-355-4695, e-mail: alan@pilot.msu.edu.

2^nd Chapman Conference on the Gaia hypothesis (Valencia, 19-23 June 2000)

Organised by the American Geophysical Union (USA) and the University of Valencia (Spain). Co-Convenors: S. H. Schneider (shs@leland.stanford.edu), J. R. Miller (miller@arctic.rutgers.edu), P. J. Boston (pboston@complex.org). Program Committee: A. Berger, E. Barreno, P. Boston, R. Charlson, R. Guerrero, L. Kump, J. Miller, W. Schlesinger, S. Schneider, T. Volk. The four-day meeting will be held from June 19^th to 23^rd, 2000, at the University of Valencia, in Valencia (Spain) on the occasion of its 500^th anniversary. - A fundamental question to the geosciences is the role of life in regulating the biosphere's biogeochemical cycles and climate. The Gaia hypothesis, introduced by J. Lovelock and L. Margulis, asserts that interaction between the biota and the physical and chemical environment are large enough to serve in active feedbacks for biogeoclimatological control, but sound geochemical arguments have been advanced to explain many environmental changes over geological time, regardless of the contribution of life. Active climatic regulation systems and the relative importance of feedbacks between organic and inorganic components need to be examined in a frank, interdisciplinary setting. To that end the first Chapman Conference on the Gaia hypothesis was held in San Diego, California, in 1988; one of its principal outcomes was to extend the Gaia hypothesis into the mainstream of scientific research and allow scientists to work more rigorously in this field. The 10-year interval has provided enough time for new research. This conference will emphasize an interdisciplinary perspective, focussing on how the biota interact with the earth's surface to help maintain and regulate the chemical composition, climate, and alkalinity of the Planet. Main interlinked themes will be: 1) Gaia in time, 2) Role of biota in regulating biogeochemical cycles and climate, 3) Complexity and feedbacks in the earth system.

Progress on completing Lichens of North America has been rapid since the Canadian Museum of Nature signed the contract with Yale University Press and resumed full support of the project. The near-final text has been submitted and is now being reviewed, and the keys are almost complete. All the photographs are now in hand, and final scanning will begin soon. A major and tragic setback for the project was the death of one of the authors, Sylvian Duran Shanoff, but work on the book is continuing. Final submission date is April 1^st 1999, and the book is scheduled to appear in mid to late 2000 (if the remaining subsidy needed for the colour work, about US$ 33,000, is raised on time).

Simón FOS, 1998 - Líquenes epífitos de los alcornocales ibéricos. Correlaciones bioclimáticas, anatómicas y densimétricas con el corcho de reproducción. Guineana, 4. Servicio Editorial de la Universidad del País Vasco. 1998. Pp. 507. ISSN 1135-7924. Order form to: Servicio Editorial de la Universidad del País Vasco/EHU, Apdo. 1397. 48080 - Bilbao (Spain), fax: 34 94 4801314, e-mail: luxedito@lg.ehu.es. Price 4000 Pesetas.+ shipping charges (foreign country 500, Spain 300 Pesetas) - This book, testing the use of epiphytic lichens as indicators of cork quality, contains a comparative study of epiphytic lichen floras on Quercus suber in the Iberian Peninsula, plus correlations with bioclimatic parameters, and with the density and anatomy of cork. Morphology, autoecology, phytogeography of the cork oak, and anatomy, chemical composition and quality of cork are reviewed. Field work on lichens was carried out in mature stands of 73 localities. The catalogue includes 304 species in 76 genera, with identification keys for species, and a list of specimens from the VAB Lichen Herbarium. Multivariate analyses of a matrix of stations and species produced a meaningful subdivision of the survey area, related to bioclimatical features. Density and radial growth of cork, analyzed by a new method (using freezing microtome), are correlated with several bioclimatic indices. The cork from oceanic areas has average annual increments which are significantly larger than those from more continental areas, where annual rings show a clear differentiation between late and early cork, due to the latent period during summer. Epiphytic lichens can be important for evaluating cork quality.

MARCELLI, M.P. & T. AHTI (eds.), 1998 - Recollecting Edvard August Vainio. São Paulo. CETESB. Companhia de Tecnologia de Saneamento Ambiental, 188p. Format 15 x 21 cm. Instituto de Botânica de São Paulo. Caixa Postal 4005. São Paulo/SP., Brazil. CEP 01061-970. US$ 30.00 plus US$ 14.

MARCELLI, M.P. & M.R.D. SEAWARD (eds.), 1998 - Lichenology in Latin America: history, current knowledge and application. São Paulo: CETESB. Companhia de Tecnologia de Saneamento Ambiental.179pp.

Two new collections of papers appeared in connection with, and as result of the IAL field meeting and conference Recollecting Vainio in September 1997. The first volume contains 10 papers on the biography of Vainio and his importance and influence on Brazilian lichenology and recent taxonomy in general. Four papers by Vainio's Finnish compatriots deal with his life (R. Alava, O. Vitikainen), his journey to Brazil in 1885 (T. Ahti) and his collections (S. Stenroos). The history and importance of Caraça is explained by M.P. Marcelli who, in another contribution, also provides artificial, dichotomous keys for all larger genera of Vainio's Etude sur classification naturelle et la morphologie des Lichens du Brésil, which are intended to be used with Vainio's opus and to find a name in it. The remaining papers deal with Vainio's importance for the taxonomy of some lichen groups today. T. Feuerer describes Vainio's contribution to the knowledge of Parmeliaceae, D.J. Galloway elucidates Vainio's concept of the Lobariaceae with special reference to Sticta, while I. Yoshimura does the same for Lobaria, and L. Tibell explains Vainio's ideas on the classification of calicioid lichens, and I. Yoshimura raises the former subgenus Durietzia C.W. Dodge to generic rank, with five new combinations. - The second volume presents contributions from the GLAL-3 meeting. The published 16 papers come from 19 lichenologists from 10 countries including, besides South America, Europe, Japan and New Zealand. Topics range from an historical overview and present status of lichenology in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile to special studies in taxonomy, floristics, bioindication and culture methods. For people working on Latinamerican material, some papers with keys may be mentioned in detail: S. Calvelo presents keys for Parmeliaceae s.lat. from southern Argentina, I. Yoshimura gives keys to all Latinamerican species of Lobaria and Durietzia within five recognized species groups (but unfortunately not to the group itself), and O. Vitikainen provides a preliminary key to Peltigera in the Neotropics. The bibliography on Brazilian lichens by M.P. Marcelli is unquestionably an important reference work for Brazilian lichens, despite omitting L. Arvidsson's Coccocarpia monograph (Opera Bot., 67). In the field of bioindication, two papers deal with monitoring air pollution in Argentina, one in general, the other related to Cordoba, using mapping and transplant studies. A group from the University of Valparaíso, Chile (Quilhot et al.) presents results on photoprotecting capacities of lichen substances, with usnic acid showing the highest absorption capacity among the studied compounds. - Both volumes are paper bound, nicely laid out, and well printed. In the second volume information on the cover illustrations is missing. Editors and contributors are to be thanked for publishing these valuable works within one year after the meetings. Both volumes will be a must, and a great help for all those dealing with Latinamerican lichenology, where overviews are still scarce.

Tyler VOLK,. 1997. Gaia's body: Toward a Physiology of Earth. Copernicus-Springer, New York, ISBN 0-387-98270-1, 269 pp., 1.03x9.41x6.40 inches. Orders to: www.amazon.com, US$ 18.90 - Gaia, the largest entity in the nested systems of life on Earth, shows a fascinating internal dynamics, with physiologic functions, chemical cycles, perhaps even feedback loops. Volk introduces the concept of a metabolizing Gaia, with its parts consisting of kingdoms, cycles, pools, etc., depending on the perspective of the observer. In Volk's interpretation, Gaia is not a living organism, nor does it necessarily remain at homeostasis, but it has a metabolism, a geophysiology. His calculations of the phenomenal surface areas of bacteria and fungi demonstrate the potential of life as a powerful geological force. Volk keeps his eye steadfastly on the "big picture", the global processes that keep our planet's biosphere going at every level, and he presents strong evidence concerning the impact that Life itself, as a fourth player, has upon the ecosystem, a well-woven, self-sustaining whole. More interesting to us are some of his interpretations about lichens in such a whole: "The rocks are patched with lichen species... the fungus provides the actual attachment to the rock... A lichen, this world in miniature, is not necessarily balanced in its cycle of gases, however, and so, like all other systems within Gaia, it requires the global metabolism...A lichen embodies a type of life between two worlds, earth and sky, more clearly than any other organism. With a body that is little more than a surface, a lichen bridges these two environments through its sides: the dorsal (by light fluxes and exchange of gases, it is also linked to the atmosphere and all waters, soils, other life-forms, on a relatively short time scale) and the ventral one (the edge of sluggish change on minerals of the bedrock, this is a scale of millions of years)...The ability of lichen life to the biotic enhancement of weathering, and thus the entry of certain elements into the Gaian system has been important in coupling biological evolution and atmospheric chemistry". This book, dealing with hard science is nevertheless a pleasure to read, an engagingly basis for students, who - I can tell you -become inspired for new experimental designs in Mycology and Plant Ecology courses. I'll try to publish a translation into Spanish!

Don G. FLENNIKEN, 1999 - The macrolichens in West Virginia. Carlisle Printing, Walnut Creek. Order to the author (US$28.00 plus $3.20 priority mail), with check or money order to: Don Flenniken, 2237 Blachleyville Road, Wooster, OH 44691, USA. - Size: 8.5x11 inches, soft cover, with 231 pages covering 284 species. The book contains keys to genera, and to species for each genus, with nomenclature following the 6^th N American Checklist. There is a short description of each species, its chemistry, ecology and distribution (plus a worldwide distribution map). Color plates show recrystallized lichen acids and photographs (at about 3x) of each lichen. Although written primarily for beginners, this book will also be valuable to professional lichenologists.

Leena MYLLYS, 1999 - Phylogenetic studies in Arthoniales (Euascomycetes). Evidence from molecular and morphological data. 27 pp. Dept. Botany, Univ. Stockholm. - A Ph.D. dissertation, which includes five additional journal arcticles (three preprints).