Regionally unique lichens of the ukrainian carpathians and perspectives of their protection

Abstract

The Carpathian Mts, showing the highest lichen biodiversity in Ukraine, i.e. 1,395 species of 2,106 of the total Ukrainian lichens, have been found to contain the highest proportion of regionally unique taxa (i.e. so far recorded only from the Carpathian Mts) (i.e. 551 species, or 39.5% of the Carpathian and 26.2% of the total Ukrainian lichen flora). Species diversity of widely distributed lichens (i.e. which hitherto known from all five macroregions of Ukraine), as well as ‘scarcely distributed’ lichens (i.e. missing at least in one or more macroregions) are also discussed. Representation of these three groups of lichens in the geomorphological districts of the Carpathian Mts and the administrative oblasts Zakarpattia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi is shown.The Chornohora Mts, a district of the Carpathian Mts, found to show the highest proportion of species so far recorded from this district of the Carpathian Mts, while the Eastern Beskydy and the Gorgany Mts are characterised hitherto by the highest species diversity of lichens. That is established that among geomorphological districts of Zakarpattia oblast, the Eastern Beskydy and the Gorgany Mts parts of Zakarpattia oblast territory are characterised by the highest number of species of lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi in the Carpathian macroregion (674 and 611 species, respectively), and the proportion of regionally unique taxa in these two florae is also the highest (483 species or 71.6% and 453 species or 74.1%, respectively). Lichens of the Chyvchyn Mts of Ivano-Frankivsk oblast are found to be the most diverse in this oblast (344 species totally), and they include the highest proportion of regionally unique taxa (171 species or 49.7%). The Eastern Beskydy Mts, part of Lviv oblast territory, the only part of this oblast in the Carpathian Mts, are found to be represented by 224 lichen species of which 32 (i.e. 14.3%) are regionally unique to the Carpathian Mts.List of the rarest taxa of the regionally unique group (hitherto known from single or a few localities) proposed as candidates for including to regional red lists of Zakarpattia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi oblasts since the whole nature protection activity in Ukraine is done according to oblast division. 254 lichen species are proposed for including in the red list of Zakarpattia oblast, while 44, 4 and 9 species in the red lists of Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Chernivtsi oblasts, respectively. The smallest amount of these taxa is proposed for the red list of Lviv oblast, which includes also the Forest zone of the Ukrainian Plains.

‘Hot’ and ‘white’ spots of lichen diversity of the Ukrainian plains (after geobotanical subprovinces and administrative oblasts)

“…Th is lichen species diversity is similar to lichen diversity of Ivano-Frankivsk part of the Gorgany Mts or Chernivtsi part of the Chyvchyn Mts (i.e. 253 and 277 species, respectively) (Kondratyuk et al 2022).…”

“…Th e species diversity of Kharkiv oblast is somewhat similar to lichen species diversity of Zakarpattia portion of the Svydovets Mts or Ivano-Frankivsk part of the Chyvchyn Mts (i.e. 312 and 344 lichen species) (Kondratyuk et al 2022).…”

“…464 species. It is the same species diversity as in Zakarpattia portion of the Chornohora Mts or Zakarpattia portion of the Volcanic Carpathians or Maramorosh Mts (452, 464 and 431 species, respectively) (Kondratyuk et al 2022). Th e Baltic, Western Ukrainian and Podolian-Bessarabian Forest subprovinces are characterised by lower diversity, i.e.…”

“…However, Chernihiv oblasts is mostly situated in Forest zone. ** Species diversity and regionally unique lichens of the Carpathian lichens of the Forest zone of Ukraine was analysed in our previous paper (Kondratyuk et al 2022).…”

“…Furthermore, Ukrainian edition of the Fourth checklist of lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi of Ukraine, published as 'Prodromus of sporen plants of Ukraine: Lichens' (Kondratyuk et al 2021b) for the fi rst time included unifi ed data on all published localities of each taxon, as widely distributed as rare, and it has allowed to carry out analysis of Ukrainian lichens distribution within fi ve macroregions, as well as to recognise importance of regionally unique species at recent stage*. Detailed analysis of lichen species diversity of the Carpathian Mts including 1,395 species of 2,106 of the total Ukrainian lichens and their regionally unique taxa as well as perspectives of their protection were provided by us previously (Kondratyuk et al 2022). However, similar data on lichen diversity of the Ukrainian plains have neither been analysed nor discussed so far.…”