Austral lichenology: 1690–2008

Abstract

This review summarises lichen work in the temperate Southern Hemisphere. A brief historical overview of austral lichenology is presented from the earliest European voyages of discovery up to the present day. Current knowledge is outlined for Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, southern South America, the Southern Subpolar islands, and Antarctica. Biogeographical patterns, and the importance of lichens in nutrient cycling, habitat restoration, and monitoring of global change, are also discussed from an austral perspective.

TheSticta filixmorphodeme (Ascomycota:Lobariaceae) in New Zealand with the newly recognized speciesS. dendroidesandS. menziesii: indicators of forest health in a threatened island biota?

“…In the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere, Lobariaceae have been used or mentioned as potential bioindicators of forest health based on studies in Cuba (Rosabal et al 2010), Colombia (Simijaca-Salcedo et al 2014;Ramírez-Morán et al 2016), French Guiana (Normann et al 2010), Chile (Galloway 1992) and Thailand (Wolseley et al 1994). Despite a wealth of literature dealing with Lobariaceae (Galloway 1985(Galloway , 1988(Galloway , 2007 de Lange et al 2012; de Lange & Galloway 2015), New Zealand lags behind in using lichens (and especially Lobariaceae) for conservation monitoring (Galloway 2008; de Lange et al 2012). This is all the more remarkable considering that New Zealand's native ecosystems, like many other island biotas, have been and continue to be severely affected by humans and invasive plants and animals (Atkinson 1989;Holdaway 1989;King 1990;Anderson 2002;Worthy & Holdaway 2002;Tennyson & Martinson 2006;Prebble & Wilmshurst 2009; de Lange et al 2010;Brown et al 2015).…”

“…This is all the more remarkable considering that New Zealand's native ecosystems, like many other island biotas, have been and continue to be severely affected by humans and invasive plants and animals (Atkinson 1989;Holdaway 1989;King 1990;Anderson 2002;Worthy & Holdaway 2002;Tennyson & Martinson 2006;Prebble & Wilmshurst 2009; de Lange et al 2010;Brown et al 2015). Hutcheson et al (1999) provided a summary of the use of bioindicators in New Zealand as a means of determining ecosystem health, pointing out the general lack of studies and near absence of work with lichens; observations confirmed by Galloway (2008). De Lange et al (2012) published the first ever threat assessment for the New Zealand lichen biota, including their lichenicolous fungi, noting that for lichens assessed as 'threatened' or 'at risk', ecosystem degradation and habitat loss were significant factors in causing their decline.…”

Conservation status of New Zealand lichens

“…The fact that the bulk of the New Zealand lichen flora is listed as 'Data Deficient' provides a strong message to New Zealand people to take a bigger interest in their lichens. An analysis of the New Zealand lichen mycobiota from a conservation perspective was advocated by Galloway (2008) and, while our offering is often clouded by the artefact of human collection patterns and those families which are more intensively studied than others, we believe there are some clear conservation patterns that accord with those observed for the much better studied New Zealand threatened vascular flora (de Lange et al 2009(de Lange et al , 2010. As with any conservation undertaking, it is our ignorance that is the biggest factor in extinctions, New Zealand lichens are a significant and important resource for New Zealand, critical to healthy ecosystem functioning, as well as providing key bioindicators of the health or deterioration of such systems (Galloway 2008).…”

Providing guideline principles: Botany and ecology within the State Forest Service of New Zealand during the 1920s

“…While the prominent lichenologist and historian David Galloway has covered the lichenological aspects of the expedition's journey in New Zealand and the scientific interest as well as the scientific networks it generated, he overlooked how Du Rietz's work on lichens related to the deforestation problem. 62 As mentioned above, during the seven months the expedition was to study lichens, Du Rietz was also asked to conduct on behalf of the SFS a special survey on the possibility of using lichen as an indicator to determine the relative humidity of various types of forest. 63 However, his research for the SFS received little attention in the annual reports compared to previous studies by McGregor, Foweraker and Cockayne.…”