In the Antarctic, Arctic, and Tibetan Plateau-recognized as the Earth's three poles characterized by extremely harsh environments-lichens prevail in the ecosystem and play crucial roles as pioneer species. Despite their importance, studies investigating the spatial distribution patterns of lichen attributes are scarce due to a lack of appropriate datasets. To bridge this gap and enhance our understanding of the growth preferences of lichens in these areas, here we present a geospatial dataset encompassing key attributes of lichens, such as color type and growth form, for over 2800 lichen species and 170,000 in-situ lichen records.
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