Retirement M.-A. Letrouit

LiCons Conference on Lichen Conservation

LiCons post-conference excursion

CLS Symposium, San Francisco 1999

XVI Int. Bot. Congress, St. Louis 1999

Nomenclature sessions St. Louis

At the end of August 1999, Marie-Agnes Letrouit (formerly Letrouit-Galinou, née Galinou), one of the foremost lichenologists of France and co-founder of Association Française de Lichénologie, retired from her position as Head of the Department of Lichénologie Fondamentale et Appliquée at the Universitè Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. A former student of Des Abbayes, she has for much of her career researched the ontology of lichens, and maintained since 1953 a very considerable output of high quality publications; more recently she has turned her attention to the ecology of lichens, showing particular interest in their value as monitors of declining air pollution levels, more especially in Paris and its environs. Marie-Agnes has been a dedicated teacher, and many lichenologists owe much to her inspiration and guidance. Her enthusiasm for the subject and her ability to communicate it were clearly demonstrated in the remarkable presentations she prepared for French television. Marie-Agnes has retained the necessary documentation and herbarium material to continue her work on the Parisian lichen flora, but her library has been donated to the Musée Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle and much of her herbarium to her colleague Serge Deruelle; duplicate reprints of her ontological work have been passed on to me for distribution (contact e-mail: m.r.d.seaward@bradford.ac.uk). We wish Marie-Agnes well in her retirement, and trust that we will have many opportunities to see her at future lichenological meetings.

Mark Seaward, Bradford

In late August 1999, 60 lichenologists converged on Switzerland to participate in the first International Conference on Lichen Conservation Biology, alias "LiCons". Our host was Christoph Scheidegger, and our venue the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (alias "WSL"), in Birmensdorf, near Zürich. Participants were in attendance from 17 countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Russia, Ukraine, The United States, and of course Switzerland. A welcome surprise: at least a dozen of the participants hailed from the former Soviet bloc. The programme included a wide-ranging series of 50 papers and 15 poster sessions spread over four days. As the presentations are being prepared for publication, only a few highlights will be given here. First the good news: In response to declining levels of acid precipitation over much of Europe, many lichens are now being reported in regions (e.g. Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands) from which they have long been absent. Among the "newcomers" are a number of undescribed crustose species, some of which may be newly evolved! Now the bad news: Epiphytic members of the Lobarion are in serious decline in northeastern North America. Even in Europe, where conditions are ameliorating, the highly fragmented distribution of many species will probably continue to lead to local extinction. Nor does rising air quality necessarily favour all elements of the pre-industrial lichen mycota; some formerly widespread species seem destined to remain localized or rare. What is more, the decline in acid precipitation will make it more difficult to correlate current lichen distributional patterns with any single measure of air quality. Changing land use also threatens many species that have hitherto benefited from traditional human activity. Finally, a lack of baseline data continues to hamper unequivocal assessments of lichen health in many regions. And even where data do exist, endangerment categories can be difficult to apply consistently. Also highlighted by the conference were a broad array of taxonomic, geographic, and conceptual approaches. Several researchers presented recent autecological studies in which one or more species was subjected to studies of various kinds: developmental, molecular, culturing, ecophysiological, reproductive biology, or population dynamics. The title of "miss poster lichen" clearly went to Lobaria pulmonaria, which provided a primary focus for six papers. Other species discussed include Cladonia perforata, Cladonia verticillaris s. lat., Erioderma pedicellatum, Hypogymnia physodes (!), Leptogium saturninum, Lobaria scrobiculata, Menegazzia terebrata, Platismatia glauca, P. norvegica, and Sticta fuliginosa. Working at a broader scale of resolution, other presenters focussed on assemblages of species judged to be critical to lichen conservation, for example the "cyanolichens" and the Lobarion. Others again described the results of inventories performed in key habitats (churchyards, parks, karst landscapes, and oldgrowth aspen forests). The conference also saw the unveiling of five new regional "red lists", for Hungary, The Netherlands, the Sakhalin region of Russia, eastern Spain, and portions of Ukraine. On the whole, much more attention was paid to the science of lichen conservation than to the political art of making it happen. A number of presentations dealt with conservation methodologies: how to determine whether a species is (or is not) endangered, how to identify critical habitats, how to assess lichen vitality using video techniques, and how to maintain lichens in a viable state for future propagation or transplant experiments. One paper, however, did examine the question of jurisdictional responsibility for the conservation of selected species. A day spent in the field visiting some of Christoph's study sites - transplant experiments in action - rounded the conference out very nicely. I think everybody was much impressed by the calibre of this work, as with that of Christoph's students and team-members Michael Dietrich, Silvia Stofer, Jean-Claude Walser, David Yetman, Stefan Zoller, and others. LiCons provided a superb opportunity to compare and contrast recent initiatives in lichen conservation in different parts of the world. Ch. Scheidegger, his students, the WSL, and the IUCN are all to be congratulated for their respective roles in making possible a gathering calculated, one suspects, to catapult lichen conservation forward into the next century. To judge from the sentiments expressed during the last session of the last afternoon, the momentum thereby generated is unlikely soon to be lost. Stay tuned, IAL, for future developments!

Trevor Goward, Vancouver

Following the stimulating LiCons conference, a very fortunate group of 15 participants enjoyed a five-day excursion in the Swiss countryside. The excursion was led by Ch. Scheidegger, assisted by his team of research students. The trip covered not only the wide range of vegetation types, lichen-rich areas and biogeographic regions of the country, but also focussed on particular projects undertaken by researchers with the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research. Thus, in addition to having an excellent introduction to Switzerland and its flora, we were entranced by Urs Groner explaining his work with Usnea longissima, amused by Christoph lovingly tending his 'babies' (minute transplants of Lobaria), and fascinated by Ch. Weber explaining the ecophysiology of Bactrospora dryina. It is impossible to summarise these few exciting days, many months after life has returned to 'normal' and once again filled with daily duties. My strongest impressions are, firstly, that Switzerland is a beautiful land, and we were privileged that in such a short time we were able to enjoy the conifer forests near Muotathal, the mountain meadows of the Albula pass and upper Engadin, and the chestnut groves of the Bergel, and many equally enticing places in between. The breadth of habitats ranged from shivering on a windswept mountain to lazing in the shade of a giant Castanea. One evening we thawed the spirits with a glass of Schnaps, whereas on the next we had fine wine served by an aloof Italian waitress. Accommodation ranged from the spacious luxury of a grand hotel to the intimacy of a mountain tavern where some weary participants slumbered to a cocktail of the scent of damp socks and specimens, and the satisfied snores of their colleagues. Lichenologists make good companions, and I am sure that our little group, representing Switzerland, Canada, the U.S.A., Great Britain, Russia, Ukraine and Tasmania, look forward to renewing friendships at the next opportunity. We will recall the many jokes, the company of Marmots and Penguins (...note of the Editor: incredible what the National Swiss Tourist Agency is capable of!), the Cetraria pastilles, the queues for the shower at night, the endless supplies of chocolate, cheeses and breads, the flexible time schedule, and many other precious impressions. Thank you Christoph, Silvia, Christine and Jean-Claude for a wonderful experience.

Gintaras Kantvilas, Hobart, Tasmania

On November 7^th, l999, the California Lichen Society (CALS) hosted a symposium entitled "Lichens Exposed" at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The event was primarily designed to provide some basic facts about lichens and lichenology to anyone interested in learning about them, as well as to provide a venue for an exchange of information and ideas amongst the members of the Society. Following a welcome from CALS president Judy Robertson, the day's events got off to a good start with R. Doell's dramatic multi-media slide show of lichen images. This was followed by an introductory lecture by J. Doell in which she attempted to tell all there was to know about lichens in forty minutes. D. Wright then came forward to give an illustrated talk about the genus Usnea in California. There followed a light lunch served by CALS members. The final presentation was by Ch. Bratt, a slide show about the lichens of the Channel Islands of Southern California where she has been working for many years. The planned lichen walk in Golden Gate Park where the Academy is located was unfortunately rained out. Even given this unfortunate development, what with the lectures, food, and an attendance of sixty five people, the avowed goal of the symposium - that is, to "expose" lichens to the general public, while also providing an opportunity for the exchange of information and ideas amongst the members of the California Lichen Society - was achieved.

Janet Doell

Some 5,000 scientists from more than 100 countries met in St. Louis at the biggest meeting of botany, which took place in the convention center (America's center) in downtown St. Louis. Of the gigantic program, three symposia - out of more than 200 (!) - were devoted exclusively to lichens. F. Lutzoni and A. Crespo moderated Recent advances in lichenology: molecular approaches to solving issues related to species complex, conservation genetics, and the evolution of life history features. An introductory overview by D. Hawksworth was followed by more specific lectures: A. Beck reported on selectivity and co-evolution of the algal partners, O. Cubero presented work on Physconia, and discussed the structure of its sequence insertions, M. Grube reviewed the species concept of lichens and showed a preliminary multigene study in Lecanora. S. Kroken presented a multilocus study to resolve the relationships in the species pair Letharia vulpina-columbiana. J. Miadlikowska revisited infrageneric concepts in Peltigera, and S. Zoller presented his work on populations of Lobaria pulmonaria. One of the important insights was that molecular hypotheses based on a single gene are apparently not sufficient to address questions at or below the species level. Another lichen-forum was Lichenology in the concept of the family Physciaceae, organized by R. Moberg and H. Mayrhofer. In this session, U. Arup reviewed the morphological evolution in Physciaceae using sequence data, S. Etges studied morphogenesis in Physcia and Xanthoria, G. Helms investigated the relationships of photobionts, and K. Lohtander presented a phylogenetic analysis of the Physciaceae in Fennoscandia. J.-E. Mattsson and Ch. Scheidegger reported on cladistic analyses based on non-molecular characters, whereas U. Trinkaus presented a monographic revision of the Buellia epigaea complex. There still are several poorly understood crustose groups which await study, especially in Buellia. However, it was apparent that several foliose genera evolved from various groups of the crustose genus Rinodina. The third exclusively lichenological session dealt with Ecology, floristics and phytogeography of arid lichens with an emphasis on the Sonoran desert region, and was organized by T. Nash III and H. Hertel. With a focus on species of the greater Sonoran area, S. Hammer discussed morphological features of Cladonia, M. Herrera-Campos presented a study of Usnea species, T. Lumbsch gave an overview of Lecanora, A. Tehler focused mainly on members of the Roccellaceae, and D. Triebel reported on lichenicolous fungi. Much more is known now than only a few years ago, due to the significant progress and enthusiasm in the Sonoran Desert Project. Bryophyte and lichen rarity: patterns, causes, and conservation was another session of relevance for lichenologists (see Forum Discussion in International Lichenological Newsletter 31, 2). Among more general and bryological lectures, it also included a contribution by C. Scheidegger on genetic composition of Lobarion communities in which the impact of genotypic diversity on transplantation strategies was discussed. Further lichenological contributions were scattered in other symposia, for example, P. DePriest presented her recent progress in the exploration of lichen symbioses, R. Lücking reported on his research on taxonomy and ecology of foliicolous lichens, I. Kranner further investigated desiccation tolerance in lichens, and S. Ott spoke about ethylene in lichens. Apart from the oral presentations there was quite a number of interesting posters on lichens. As there is no space to list all contributions, and because abstracts are still available on the internet (http://www.ibc99.org/), only a few examples are mentioned here: J. Buschboom presented a study of Porpidia and V. Reeb reported on preliminary results from phylogenetic work in the Acarosporaceae. P. DePriest, with various combinations of co-workers, contributed several posters on Cladoniaceae, including a study on photobiont coevolution. M. Sikaroodi presented a first phylogenetic analysis with some lichenicolous fungi. Among other and scattered posters on lichen physiology, B. Wilske reported on acetaldehyde emission of lichens due to oxygen deficiency. The American Bryological and Lichenological Society's 100th Anniversary Gala was probably the most important social meeting point for lichenologists. Following the dinner, the history of the Society was presented in interesting lectures by L. Anderson and I. Brodo. After these centennial talks, only little time was left for more informal discussions, and, as always, we had to leave the dinner too early. In strong contrast to the subtropical atmosphere outside the building, the air-conditioned climate in the rooms was appreciated by most people. Practically everything went very well, due to the impressive and good organization of this huge congress. Big meetings such as the IBC are condensation points of botanical progress, and it is always important to have an appropriate representation of lichenology there. I think, that the (rather) few participating lichenologists did a good job in this respect.

Martin Grube, Graz

As usual, only a small proportion (67 proposals) of the relatively low number of 218 proposals to amend the Code presented to the St. Louis Congress passed. Thirty-two proposals had more than 75%. There were no votes in the 229 ballots returned by mail, and these were not discussed at all. A few hot items were to be handled. The discussion of a unified BioCode was postponed, but changes in terminology associated with it were debated. Most of these proposals were defeated, with the exception of the terms "homotypic" vs. "heterotypic" synonymy (replacing "nomenclatural" vs. "taxonomic" synonyms) and "replacement names" (instead of "avowed substitute"), which were considered useful clarifications. Proposals concerning a protected status of listed Names in Current Use (NCU) were rejected by a clear-cut majority without further debate. In view of a strongly negative mail vote, proposals concerning a compulsory Registration of new names were withdrawn. Moreover, a proposal made from the floor to remove reference to registration from the present Code received a 64.8% approval. A proposal that nomenclatural novelties published in a thesis were not to be regarded as validly published unless this is a regular publication with an ISBN number received just over 50% "Yes" votes, and did not pass. To rescue the beneficial effects of registrations to the respective indexing centers, two recommendations were proposed from the floor, that: a) authors or publishers introducing nomenclatural novelties should choose periodicals that regularly publish taxonomic papers or send a copy of their work to the appropriate indexing center, b) authors or editors are urged to list nomenclatural novelties in the abstract/index of their work. These proposals were accepted with a strong majority. A proposal to replace the obligate Latin diagnosis by an English one failed already in the mail vote. Thirty-eight proposals concerning orthographic details were defeated without discussion within a few minutes, and no special committee was installed to take care of further modifications in orthographic ruling. The definition of type material in Art. 8 was further refined by acceptance of a modified proposal [66]. The ruling on epitypes (secondary type material designated to fix the interpretation of uncertain original material, introduced in the Tokyo Code), was made consistant with other rules in the hierarchy of types. Three groups of proposals were of particular relevance to mycology: Living types: A proposal [211a] by Gams et al. was modified to read: "Add a Note after Art. 8.2: In fungi and algae inactivated cultures (e.g. lyophilized or deep-frozen) are acceptable as types." This implies that permanently preserved type material loses its type function as soon as it is reactivated and thus becomes "ex-type". The original restriction of this ruling to particular groups of fungi was abandoned as being impractical. Another proposal, aimed to define the term "type culture", was withdrawn and the proposed Note in Art. 37 [Prop. 211b] was modified to read: "Metabolically inactive material of fungi and algae is acceptable as type for the purpose of this Article" (see also Rec. 8B.1). After the mycologists present at the Nomenclature Section had agreed on this solution, the modified proposals passed without problems. A proposed rewording of Rec. 50 E.2 (Kuyper et al., Prop. 213) concerning author citation of sanctioned fungal names passed, and so did a proposed recommendation (Jørgensen & Gams, prop. 214) to add a recommendation (not a rule) in Art. 59.5, aimed at avoiding double nomenclature for anamorphs of pleomorphic fungi when the associated teleomorph is known. Proposals to use the term "parataxa" instead of "form taxa" for fossil plants and imperfect fungi, not welcomed by mycologists, were withdrawn by the proposers. The proceedings of the Nomenclature Section will be published in extenso in Englera. The new St. Louis Code to be edited by a Committee headed by Rapporteur Général W. Greuter is expected to appear in summer 2000. The Committee for Fungi has undergone considerable changes and six new members as voted into the Committee by the present membership, were installed by the Congress (See also: http://fp.bio.utk.edu/mycology/nom-news.htm).

W. Gams, Secretary, Committee for Fungi