Contribution to the lichen biota of the Pogórze Wiśnickie foothills (Carpathians)

The Pogorze Wiśnickie foothills are situated in close vicinity to the Krakow agglomeration and is highly influenced by human activity. Lichen studies in the area revealed 163 species so far. A current checklist of the lichen biota of the territory is provided with numerous new regional records, e.g. Bacidina sulphurella, Evernia prunastri, Fuscidea pusilla, Lecanora albellula, Lepraria ecorticata, Mycobilimbia epixanthoides, Ramalina farinacea, R.. fastigiata, Ropalospora viridis, Verrucaria praetermissa and V. tectorum .

in the years 1998-2000 a lichen survey was carried out aimed at a more comprehensive exploration of the Pogórze wiśnickie foothills with special emphasis on protected areas.The project included lichenological training for students of the Jagiellonian university and resulted in some joint publications (Śliwa et al. 2001;Śliwa, Krzewicka 2004).Part of the results were also published by Stolarczyk (2003).This paper presents a part of a summary of the research as a contribution to the knowledge of the lichen biota of this interesting area highly influenced by human activity.

STudy area
The carpathian Foothills form a transitional area that is located between the Beskid in the south and the sub-carpathian basins in the north, and the landscape is affected by three main subsystems: abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic (drużkowski 1998).The Pogórze wiśnickie foothills constitute the easternmost edge of the Pogórze Zachodniobeskidzkie foothills of the western carpathians (Kondracki 1989(Kondracki , 2001)).neighbouring areas are the Pogórze wielickie foothills to the west and the Pogórze rożnowskie foothills to the east.The territory includes several protected areas (e.g., the Bukowiec nature reserve, Kamień Grzyb and Kamienie Brodzińskiego pro-Kamień Grzyb and Kamienie Brodzińskiego pro-protected sandstone tors) as well as areas of special concern (wiśnicko-Lipnicki Land-as well as areas of special concern (wiśnicko-Lipnicki Landscape Park). in general it is rich in natural values represented by forested hills and unique landscape formations such as sandstone tors.Forest communities occupying the area were characterised by Stachurska (1998a, b).
on the other hand the Pogórze wiśnickie foothills is under the visible impact of human activity; some parts of the area are strongly urbanized and influenced by industrial and transportation emissions of Krakow and surrounding towns.details of the environmental transformation of the whole area of the carpathians Foothills due to natural and anthropogenic factors is presented by drużkowski (1998), who evaluated the transformation as moderate at present.

MaTeriaL and MeThodS
Lichens were collected in the years 1998-2000 at 32 sites located in the Fe aTPoL gird square system (acc. to cieśliński, Fałtynowicz 1993).each 100×100 km (Fe) plot was divided into 10×10 km units numbered from 00 to 99, and then into 2×2 km subunits also numbered from 00 to 99 − the numbers follow one the other in the list of collecting sites.all habitats and substrates were explored.Lichens were identified using routine microscopic and laboratory techniques.when necessary the TLc analyses was performed in solvent system a or/and c (methods followed orange et al. 2001).
Voucher specimens are available at Kra and/or KraM herbaria.nomenclature basically follows Santesson et al. ( 2004
Several of the species deserve special attention.Bacidina sulphurella was reported only from a few sites in Poland until now: Góry Sowie Mts, on Acer pseudoplatanus and Puszcza Knyszyńska Forest, vicinity of czarna Białostocka, on Carpinus betulus (Brand et al. 2009), and warszawa city, "Las Bielański" nature reserve, on wood (Kubiak et al. 2010).however, it is considered a widespread species in the country (Kubiak et al. 2010).The species represents the B. arnoldiana group, which is distingushed by a finely granular thallus entirely covered by goniocysts, rather large and flat apothecia, with a greyish-brown disc with a slight violet hue, and paler orangebrown and raised margins, and a typically dark brown to red-brown hypothecium reacting K+ dark brown.revision of the material referred to as B. arnoldiana in western europe and Macaronesia by Brand et al. (2009) demonstrated that two species can be recognized on the basis of the size of pycnidia and more particularly on the shape of the conidia: B. arnoldiana (Körb.)V. wirth & Vězda characterised by filiform, arched or curved (rarely almost straight) conidia, and B. sulphurella characterised by filiform conidia, curved or not, but always with at least one end strongly hooked and slightly enlargered.Moreover, the authors discovered that in addition to morphology the species differ in ecology; the former one is saxicolous and the latter corticolous.
Lecanora albellula [syn.L. piniperda Körb.] was being reported during the last decade with increasing frequency as a result of a broader concept of the species presented by Printzen (2001).The species belongs to the L. saligna-related taxa that are characterised by the presence of usnic and/or isousnic acids and corticate amphithecium (traditionally named the L. varia group).additionally it is distinguished by apothecia rounded to flexuose, usually densely crowded, more rarely single or in small groups, sessile, 0.4−0.6(−0.9)mm diam.; disc light ochre to reddish-brown, matt, finely whitish pruinose, flat to modertely convex; margin weakly prominent when young, persistent or level with disc or often excluded in old apothecia.The most diagnostic character of the species is the apothecial granules that are abundant in the epithecium and densely obscure the whole area of amphithecial cortex.The granules are bright in polarized light and dissolve rapidly in Koh.Lecanora albellula can be mistaken for L. subintricata (nyl.)Th.Fr. and specimens with dark apothecial discs can also be confused with L. saligna (Printzen 2001).Moreover, the study of the Polish collections of the L. varia group indicated the taxon L. saligna var.sarcopis (ach.)hillm.at least pro parte in fact represents L. albellula.The status of the taxa are in urgent need of further investigations.
Lepraria ecorticata has been recently reported for the first time from continental europe by Kukwa (2006).The author presented records of the species from Poland and the czech republic.in Poland Lepraria ecorticata was noted from równina Bielska Plain, Kaszuby Landlake and warmia in the north, and from Pogórze Karko-Karkonoskie foothills, Góry Sowie Mts, Beskid wyspowy Mts and Gorce Mts in the south.The species is characterized by a thick, not stratified thallus with most modullary hyphae and soredia well separated from one another.L. ecorticata is very similar in appearance to L. elobata but produces usnic acid in addition to zeorin. it resembles also sorediate species of Lecanora that contain usnic acid as well, e.g., L. expallens, L. compallens herk & aptroot and L. leuckertiana (cf.Kukwa 2006).
Verrucaria praetermissa is an amphibious species occurring exclusively in humid habitats and characterized by a pale green thallus with pinkish white prothallus.The species occupies large siliceous stones emerging above the water surface in streams but occasionally inundated.it is relatively frequently recorded both in lowland and mountainous areas of the country (e.g., Kiszka 1996b;czarnota 2000;Zalewska 2000;czyżewska et al. 2001, 2002;Bielczyk 2003;cieśliński 2003;Krzewicka 2006Krzewicka , 2009)).
Verrucaria tectorum is a member of the V. nigrescens complex.it is a saxicolous species occupying calcareous rocks and human-made calcium-containing substrata.The species was rarely reported from Poland (rehman 1879; Kiszka, Kościelniak 1996;Sparrius 2003) but a recent revision of the genus in Poland demonstrated this poorly known species was often mistakenly reported as V. nigrescens Pers.(Krzewicka, unpubl.).The quoted treatment yielded numerous new records of the species from the area of the whole country.concLuSion Preliminary inventory of the lichens of the Pogórze wiśnickie foothills indicates considerable diversity in spite of the high infl uence of human activity on the land-high influence of human activity on the landscape and nature of the carpathians Foothills.additionally such a large representa-.additionally such a large representation of newly reported species belonging to various lichen groups, both in terms of taxonomy and ecology, indicate that further herbarium and field investigations will yield more interesting discoveries.Finally species that urgently require special attention are the lichenicolous fungi.So far only three of the most common species have been reported from the area: Athelia arachnoidea (Stolarczyk 2003), Lichenoconium erodens and L. lecanorae (Stolarczyk 2003;Śliwa, Krzewicka 2004).