FUNGI AND LICHENS IN THE BALTICS AND BEYOND XVIII ...

important because of the recently described changes in natural forest ecosystems caused not
only by their economic exploitation but also by the global warming.
THE LICHEN GENUS Ochrolechia IN EUROPE
M. KUKWA
Department of Plant Taxonomy and Nature Conservation, University of Gdańsk, Al.
Legionów 9, PL-80-441 Gdańsk, Poland
E-mail: dokmak@ug.edu.pl
27 taxa of Ochrolechia have been confirmed from Europe, with one taxon tentatively
referred to O. aff. mahluensis. One species has been described as new and one new
combination proposed. Ochrolechia mahluensis has been proposed for O. androgyna A sensu
Tønsberg (1992) with O. androgyna var. pergranulosa as its synonym. The new division of
the genus into taxonomically informal groups and 18 new synonyms have been proposed. 44
names have been lectotypified and two epitypified. Four names have been excluded from the
genus, and the identity of 12 names has remained unclear. New data on the chemistry have
been reported. Ochrolechia juvenalis, O. oregonensis, O. subathallina and O. subpallescens
have been excluded from the European lichen biota.
LICHENS AS INDICATORS OF OLD-GROWTH AND PRISTINE FORESTS IN
RUSSIAN FAR EAST
E. S. KUZNETSOVA, D. E. HIMELBRANT,
I. S. STEPANCHIKOVA
Department of Botany, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya Emb. 7/9, 199034 St.
Petersburg, Russia
Laboratory of Lichenology and Bryology, Komarov Botanical Institute of RAS, Prof. Popov
Str. 2, 197376 St. Petersburg, Russia
E-mails: igel_kuzn@mail.ru, d_brant@mail.ru, stepa_ir@mail.ru
In contrast to Europe, the investigation of lichens as indicators of long ecological
continuity of the forests has a quite short history in Russia (Red Data Book of Komi Republic,
1998, 2009; Anderson et al., 2009). However the attempts to select indicators for the purpose
of their further use to surveying of forests and evaluation of their quality were undertaken not
only in European part of Russia, but in the Far East as well.
During last ten years the lichen flora of main plant communities of Kamchatka
Peninsula was investigated in the frame of the phytosociological expeditions of Komarov
Botanical Institute RAS (e. g., Neshataeva et al., 2002–2009; Himelbrant, Stepanchikova,
2011). The complexes of species indicating the long ecological continuity of stone-birch
(Betula ermanii), spruce (Picea ajanensis) and flood-plain forests (dominated with Populus
suaveolens and Chosenia arbutifolia) were detected. Some of the species were included in
Red Data Book of Kamchatka Region (2007) as associated with rare and vulnerable
communities. Abies gracilis stand remains on Kamchatka only as a very small grove (ca. 20
ha) on the Eastern Coast. The lichen flora of this community is quite poor and doesn't include
any indicator species.
The first investigation aimed to select species associated with undisturbed old-growth
and pristine forests in Primorye Region (Sikhote Alin’) were carried out in 2010. Fir-spruce