On the Conservation of the Canarian Laurel Forest: What Do Lichens Have to Say?

The fragmentation and degradation of primary forests are serious threats to the long-term persistence not only of the tree species they comprise, but also of many organisms inhabiting them. The Canarian laurel forest, known as monteverde, is a highly threatened endemic forest of the Macaronesian region. Lichens are considered ideal bioindicators for assessing the effects of human disturbances on ecosystems and anticipating the response of other less sensitive organisms.

Endless forms most frustrating: disentangling species boundaries in the group (), with the description of six new species and a key to the group.

Oceanic islands have been recognized as natural laboratories in which to study a great variety of evolutionary processes. One such process is evolutionary radiations, the diversification of a single ancestor into a number of species that inhabit different environments and differ in the traits that allow them to exploit those environments. The factors that drive evolutionary radiations have been studied for decades in charismatic organisms such as birds or lizards, but are lacking in lichen-forming fungi, despite recent reports of some lineages showing diversification patterns congruent with radiation.

Patterns of Endemism in Lichens: Another Paradigm-Shifting Example in the Lichen Genus from Macaronesia.

It has long been assumed that lichen-forming fungi have very large distribution ranges, and that endemic species are rare in this group of organisms. This is likely a consequence of the "everything small is everywhere" paradigm that has been traditionally applied to cryptogams. However, the description of numerous endemic species over the last decades, many of them in oceanic islands, is challenging this view.

Bacterial communities associated with an island radiation of lichen-forming fungi.

Evolutionary radiations are one of the most striking processes biologists have studied in islands. A radiation is often sparked by the appearance of ecological opportunity, which can originate in processes like trophic niche segregation or the evolution of key innovations. Another recently proposed mechanism is facilitation mediated by the bacterial communities associated with the radiating species.

Together Apart: Evaluating Lichen-Phorophyte Specificity in the Canarian Laurel Forest.

The effects of host tree identity on epiphyte lichen communities are a controversial issue, as the results obtained in different forest environments studied are not consistent. We investigated the host preferences for lichens in the laurel forest of Macaronesia. For this purpose, we analyzed the lichen communities growing on the four most common trees (Erica canariensis Rivas-Mart.

The Role of Photobionts as Drivers of Diversification in an Island Radiation of Lichen-Forming Fungi.

Speciation in oceanic islands has attracted the interest of scientists since the 19th century. One of the most striking evolutionary phenomena that can be studied in islands is adaptive radiation, that is, when a lineage gives rise to different species by means of ecological speciation. Some of the best-known examples of adaptive radiation are charismatic organisms like the Darwin finches of the Galapagos and the cichlid fishes of the great African lakes.

Sharpening the species boundaries in the complex (, Ascomycota).

The complex belongs to the section and is formed by , and These species are basically distributed in the Mediterranean and Macaronesian Regions. In the present work the limits between the species of this complex are re-examined. To this end, the morphological characters were studied along with the secondary metabolites and the DNA sequences from three loci (ITS rDNA, IGS rDNA and ).