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The European method for mapping lichen diversity (LDV) as an indicator of environmental stress/quality in the Czech Republic was evaluated to determine its applicability in this country. A modified Hawksworth & Rose qualitative scale for determining air pollution levels was used for comparative purposes. The study was undertaken in a partially forested and reasonably polluted region of the Bohemian Karst in central Bohemia during 2003. Measurements obtained by the LDV method yielded values in the range 18-65; measurements obtained by the modified Hawksworth & Rose method indicated zones 4-7, with a high correlation with the LDV results. The LDV method proved to be applicable in the region, but its implementation may be limited by the lack of suitable trees and specific landscape ecology.

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Taxonomic identifications in some groups of lichen-forming fungi have been challenge largely due to the scarcity of taxonomically relevant features and limitations of morphological and chemical characters traditionally used to distinguish closely related taxa. Delineating species boundaries in closely related species or species complexes often requires a range of multisource data sets and comprehensive analytical methods. Here we aim to examine species boundaries in a group of saxicolous lichen forming fungi, the Aspiciliella intermutans complex ( Megasporaceae ), widespread mainly in the Mediterranean. We gathered DNA sequences of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nuITS), the nuclear large subunit (nuLSU), the mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) ribosomal DNA, and the DNA replication licensing factor MCM7 from 80 samples mostly from Iran, Caucasia, Greece and eastern Europe. We used a combination of phylogenetic strategies and a variety of empirical, sequence-based species delimitation approaches to infer species boundaries in this group. The latter included: the automatic barcode gap discovery (ABGD), the multispecies coalescent approach *BEAST and Bayesian Phylogenetics and Phylogeography (BPP) program. Different species delimitation scenarios were compared using Bayes factors species delimitation analysis. Furthermore, morphological, chemical, ecological and geographical features of the sampled specimens were examined. Our study uncovered cryptic species diversity in A . intermutans and showed that morphology-based taxonomy may be unreliable, underestimating species diversity in this group of lichens. We identified a total of six species-level lineages in the A . intermutans complex using inferences from multiple empirical operational criteria. We found little corroboration between morphological and ecological features with our proposed candidate species, while secondary metabolite data do not corroborate tree topology. The present study on the A . intermutans species-complex indicates that the genus Aspiciliella , as currently circumscribed, is more diverse in Eurasia than previously expected.