New records of driftwood lichens in the Kaffiøyra Plain (NW Spitsbergen, Svalbard)

Abstract

This paper refers to lichen biota growing on driftwood in the Kaffiøyra Plain (NW Spitsbergen, Svalbard). The presented list of 25 lichenized fungi includes both the eurytopic, accidental, typical, and stenotopic species. Taxa that belong to the last two groups can be considered as lignicolous. This study confirms the existence of a specific group of lichen species, for which the driftwood is a main substrate in the Arctic. Additionally, five lichen species new for the whole Svalbard were recorded, namely: Candelariella coralliza, Elixia flexella, Lecanora saligna, Lecidea plebeja, and Xylographa sibirica.

Keywords

• Arctic
• Svalbard
• lichen biota
• lichenized fungi
• lignicolous lichens