Diversity and ecology of lichens and lichenicolous fungi in "Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici" National Park (Pyrenees, Catalonia, Spain)

Abstract

334 lichenized fungi and 13 lichenicolous fungi were reported from «Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici» National Park. The diversity of growth-forms was distributed as follows: 59.4 % crustose, 20.2 % foliose, 10.7 % fruticose, 3.7 % squamulose and 2.3 % leprose. Lichenicolous fungi count for 3.7 % of the catalogue. Alpine belt was the richest with the 48 % of found taxa, subalpine belt was the second richest with 37.9 % and the montane belt was the poorest with only 14.1 % of taxa. However, this belt had the highest proportion of crustose taxa, with a 63.5 %. In addition, subalpine belt contained more foliose taxa with a 29 % of the taxa present in that belt, and there was also found the higher proportion of fruticose lichens (12.4 %). Crustose lichens were the main growth form on all the substrates. Otherwise, growth forms are in a similar proportion on ground and plant debris. The patterns of diversity and ecological distribution were similar to the ones found in mid-latitude mountains from Europe (Alps, Apennines, Cantabrian Range) or North America (Rocky Mountains). European mountain localities were richer in crustose species, while North American sites had a higher proportion of foliose and fruticose taxa. Moreover, corticolous taxa showed to be more abundant in European areas, on the other hand terricolous taxa were more frequent in North American mountains.