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Diversity of secondary lichen metabolites and their relationship to substrate and environmental parameters were studied in saxicolous lichens in the Middle and South Urals of Russia. Atranorin, usnic acid, gyrophoric acid, zeorin, norstictic acid, antraquinones and stictic acid were found in 73, 42, 41, 37, 36, 35 and 32 species, respectively, of 543 taxa collected. One hundred and ninety six species (i.e., 36% of total species documented) contained no secondary metabolites. Spectra of secondary metabolites of crustose lichens varied on different rock types, while in fruticose and foliose groups only those species without lichen acids were dependent on the substrate type. In Canonical Correspondence Analysis, secondary lichen metabolites were subdivided into groups depending on the concentration of Ca and metals in the substrate. Gyrophoric, lobaric, psoromic, rhizocarpic and stictic acids were common in crustose lichens in metal-poor habitats; species with antraquinones and lichens without any secondary metabolites were most abundant on limestone (alkalic and metal-poor), while other common lichen metabolites had no to minimal dependence on the chemistry of the substrate. The two additional abiotic factors affecting the composition of secondary metabolites were the maximum temperature of the warmest month and elevation. Our results suggest a range of possible relationships exist among lichen acids, rocks and climatic parameters. Furthermore, the same metabolite may affect both accumulation of metals and stress tolerance under unfavorable conditions.

Mycological research in the Northern part of West Siberia has now become sufficient for review and digitisation as over 460 scientific works have been completed mainly since the beginning of the 20th century. The history of research in the region started from isolated studies at the beginning of the 20th century, but regular and systematic research started from the 1970s. Over the following decades, several dozens of researchers have worked in the area, but the reported occurrences were scattered amongst a broad variety of publications, mainly hardly available. The great need in digitisation and accumulation of fungal records reported in published literature in a standardised regional database has now become evident. The «Fungal records database of the Northern West Siberia» (FuNWS) was initiated in 2016 according to contemporary biodiversity data standards (Darwin Core), to be compatible and accessible by the broad research community. The database has been supplemented ever since by the collective effort of specialists working in the area. According to the database summary report, there are 3358 fungal and fungus-like species revealed in the Northern West Siberia at present. The richest in species number classes are Agaricomycetes (60%) and Lecanoromycetes (33%) with a total of 25 classes represented. The FuNWS database was uploaded to Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (Ygra State University Biological Collection publisher) on 11 November 2017 (earlier titled «Fungal Records Database of Yugra, FReDY») to provide open access to the data and its reusability (Filippova et al. 2020). This publication summarises the results of the digitisation of literature-based occurrence records of fungi and fungus-like organisms initiated in the Northern part of West Siberia for the first time in the history of mycological research. The bibliography of regional mycological publications was created to include about 460 published works (Suppl. material 2). In total, about 140 literature sources were digitised and about 22000 occurrence records were integrated into the FuNWS database (Filippova et al. 2020).

The paper summarizes literature on climate, soil chemistry, vegetation and metal accumulation by plants found on ultramafic substrata in the circumboreal zone (sensu Takhtajan, Floristic regions of the world, ) of the Northern Hemisphere. We present a list of 50 endemic species and 18 ecotypes obligate to ultramafic soils from the circumboreal region of Holarctic, as well as 30 and 2 species of Ni and Zn hyperaccumulators, respectively. The number of both endemics and hyperaccumulators are markedly lower compared to that of the Mediterranean and tropical regions. The diversity of plant communities on ultramafics soils of the circumboral region is also described. The underlying causes for the differences of ultramafic flora between arctic, cold, cool temperate and Mediterranean and tropical regions are also discussed.

Cool temperate regions have a limited number of species able to accumulate nickel (Ni) and other heavy metals in above-ground tissues. Our study was conducted in order to find accumulators of Ni on serpentine soils in the Middle and Southern Urals. Above-ground tissues of plants as well as soil samples were collected in 10 ultramafic massifs. Our results confirmed hyperaccumulation activity of Alyssum obovatum (C.A.Mey.) Turcz. Three species that appeared to be hemi-accumulators of Ni are Alyssum litvinovii Knjaz., Alyssum tortuosum Willd. and Noccaea thlaspidioides (Pall.) F.K.Mey. All these species are facultative accumulators/hyperaccumulators and exhibit different concentrations of Ni under a range of soil conditions. The highest Ni concentration was found in A. obovatum in Krakinskiy massif (6008 μg·g–1 dry mass), A. tortuosum (1789 μg·g–1) and A. litvinovii (160 μg·g–1) in Khabarninskiy massif, and N. thlaspidioides (741 μg·g–1) in Sugomakskiy massif (Southern Urals). Regression analysis shows statistically significant dependence of Ni concentrations in soil and tissue of both A. obovatum and A. tortuosum. The latter shows a dramatically high difference in the level of accumulation that varies from excluder to 20 μg g–1 Ni to hyperaccumulator levels, suggesting the existence of genetically distinct populations with the ability to vary their accumulation of Ni.