Section

The scientists of the cryptogamic section try to answer questions about the evolution, biogeography and adaptation of lichens, fungi that live in symbiosis with green algae or cyanobacteria.

The number of lichen species that live on Earth is still unknown. We also know little about the phylogenetic relationships of many species. The lichens investigated by us, belong to the large genera Lecidea and Lecanora and grow on organic substrata such as tree bark, wood or bryophytes.

Because many species are rare and inconspicuous, it is often a major challenge to spot them in the field.

Therefore field-work is an important part of our job. In order to identify the species and to find their place in the system, we have to investigate anatomical sections under the microscope. In addition, chemical data is often necessary.
We rely on genetic data and methods from population genetics to explain the biogeographical patterns of species, their speciation and evolution.

Especially in the case of inconspicuous crustal lichens, we still do not know how many species there are on earth. Nowadays, genetic methods can help to discover new species or to better distinguish similar species from each other. The project “Lecanomics: New ways of species detection and recognition in a ubiquitous group of lichens” is part of the DFG priority programme “Taxon-omics”. Here we try to decompose the large and widespread lichen genus Lecanora into more natural units and study species delimitation using molecular genetic methods and involving amateurs and scientists who currently do not have access to these methods.

Publications:
Yakovchenko LS, Davydov EA, Ohmura Y, Printzen C (2019) The phylogenetic position of species of Lecanora s. lat. containing calycin and usnic acid, with the description of Lecanora solaris Yakovchenko & Davydov sp. nov. Lichenologist 51: 147-156. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0024282919000045

Gemeinholzer B, Vences M, Beszteri B, Bruy T, Felden J, Kostadinov I, Miralles A, Nattkemper TW, Printzen C, Renz J, Rybalka N, Schuster T, Weibulat T, Wilke T, Renner S (2020) Data storage and data re-use in taxonomy – transforming taxonomy into big data science. Organisms Diversity & Evolution 20: 1-8.

Bungartz F, Elix JA, Printzen C (2020) Lecanoroid lichens in the Galapagos Islands: the genera Lecanora, Protoparmeliopsis, and Vainionora(Lecanoraceae, Lecanoromycetes). Phytotaxa 431 (1): 1-85. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.431.1.1

Borsch T, Stevens AD, Häffner E, Güntsch A, Berendsohn WG, Appelhans MS, Barilaro C, Beszteri B, Blattner FR, Bossdorf O, Dalitz H, Dressler S, Duque-Thüs R, Esser HJ, Franzke A, Goetze D, Grein M, Grünert U, Hellwig F, Hentschel J, Hörandl E, Janßen T, Jürgens N, Kadereit G, Karisch T, Koch MA, Müller F, Müller J, Ober D, Porembski S, Poschlod P, Printzen C, Röser M, Sack P, Schlüter P, Schmidt M, Schnittler M, Scholler M, Schultz M, Seeber E, Simmel J, Stiller M, Thiv M, Thüs H, Tkach N, Triebel D, Warnke U, Weibulat T, Wesche K, Yurkov A, Zizka G. 2020. A complete digitization of German herbaria is possible, sensible and should be started now. Research Ideas and Outcomes 6: e50675

Zhang YY, Wang XY, Li LJ, Printzen C, Timdal E, Niu DL, Yin AC, Wang SQ, Wang LS (2020) Squamarina (lichenized fungi) species described from China belong to at least three unrelated genera. Mycokeys 66: 135-157. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.66.39057

Miralles A, Bruy T, Wolcott K, Scherz MD, Begerow D, Beszteri B, Bonkowski M, Felden J, Gemeinholzer B, Glaw F, Glöckner FO, Hawlitschek O, Kostadinov I, Nattkemper TW, Printzen C, Renz J, Rybalka N, Stadler M, Weibulat T, Wilke T, Renner SS, Vences M (2020) Repositories for taxonomic data: Where we are and what is missing. Systematic Biology 69: 1231-1253.

Ivanovich C, Dolnik C, Otte V, Palice Z, Sohrabi M, Printzen C (2021) A preliminary phylogeny of the Lecanora saligna-group, with notes on species delimitation. Lichenologist 53: 63-79.

Davydov EA, Yakovchenko LS, Hollinger J, Bungartz F, Paminello C, Printzen C (2021) The new genus Pulvinora (Lecanoraceae) for species of the ‘Lecanora pringlei’ group, including the new species Pulvinora stereothallina. Bryologist 124: 242-256.

Davydov EA, Yakovchenko LS, Printzen C (2021) Validation of the combination Lecanora brandegeei (≡ Lecidea brandegeei). Opuscula Philolichenum 20: 71-72.

Antarctica is the only continent that still has largely natural habitats more or less unaffected by human activity. Its isolated location and the restriction to small, widely separated ice-free areas have led to a strong genetic differentiation and local adaptation of fauna and flora. However, this genetic diversity is increasingly threatened by the introduction of alien species and the homogenization of previously separated populations. The project “Dispersal and genetic exchange of lichen populations between Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula (with a focus on human impact)” is funded by the DFG Priority Programme “Antarctic Research”. Here we investigate the population genetic structure of five widespread lichen species and try to estimate whether human activities contribute to the introduction of alien species or genotypes and to the homogenization of gene pools.

Publications:
Lagostina E, Andreev M, Dal Grande F, Grewe F, Lorenz A, Lumbsch HT, Rozzi R, Ruprecht U, Sancho LG, Søchting U, Scur M, Wirtz N, Printzen C (2021) Effects of dispersal strategy and migration history on genetic diversity and population structure of Antarctic lichens. Journal of Biogeography 48: 1635-1653. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14101

Grewe F, Lagostina E, Wu H, Printzen C, Lumbsch HT (2018) Population genomic analyses of RAD sequences resolves the phylogenetic relationship of the lichen-forming fungal species Usnea antarctica and Usnea aurantiacoatra. Mycokeys 43: 91-113.

Lagostina E, Dal Grande F, Andreev M, Printzen C (2018) The use of microsatellite markers for species delimitation in Antarctic Usnea subgenus Neuropogon. Mycologia 110: 1047-1057.

Lagostina E, Dal Grande F, Ott S, Printzen C (2017) Fungus-specific SSR markers in the Antarctic lichens Usnea antarctica and U. aurantiacoatra (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota). Applications in Plant Sciences 5 (9): 1700054.

Within the project „Phylogeography and speciation of lichens from the Cetraria aculeata complex in Western Eurasia” PhD student Tetiana Lutsak (funded by the DAAD, additional funding by Marga und Kurt Möllgaard-Stiftung and Adolf-Messer­-Stiftung) studies genetical isolation and species delimitation between closely related lichens using molecular genetic methods.

Publications:
Lutsak T, Fernández-Mendoza F, Kirika P, Wondafrash M, Printzen C (2020) Coalescence-based species delimitation using genome-wide data reveals hidden diversity in a cosmopolitan group of lichens. Organisms Diversity and Evolution 20: 189-218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-019-00424-0

Lutsak T, Fernández-Mendoza F, Nadyeina O, Şenkardeşler A, Printzen C (2017) Testing the correlation between norstictic acid content and species evolution in the Cetraria aculeata group in Europe. Lichenologist 49: 39-56.

Lutsak T, Fernández-Mendoza F, Greshake B, Dal Grande F, Ebersberger I, Ott S, Printzen C (2016) Characterisation of microsatellite loci in the bipolar lichen-forming fungus Cetraria aculeata (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota). Applications in Plant Sciences 4(9): 1600047.

Lutsak T, Fernández-Mendoza F, Kirika P, Wondafrash M, Printzen C (2016) Mycobiont-photobiont interactions of the lichen Cetraria aculeata in high alpine regions of East Africa and South America. Symbiosis 68: 25-37.

Nadyeina O, Lutsak T, Blum O, Grakhov V, Scheidegger C (2013) Cetraria steppae Savicz is conspecific with Cetraria aculeata (Schreb.) Fr. according to morphology, secondary chemistry and ecology. The Lichenologist 45: 841-856.

The lichen herbarium (ca 78.000 specimens) includes the important historical collections of Jakob Adolf Metzler (with many exsiccata series by Anzi, Arnold, Hepp, Nylander) and Ludwig Scriba as well as contemporary collections by Uwe Becker (Zimbabwe), Rainer Cezanne & Marion Eichler (mainly Central Europe), Uwe de Bruyn (mainly northern Germany), Patrick Dornes, Markus Hauck, Bruno Mies (Cape Verde, Yemen, Socotra, Eritrea), Christian Printzen, Pamela Rodriguez Flakus (South America). Further exsiccata from the 19th and early 20th century (e. g. Rabenhorst, Sydow) were accessioned through the collections of Carl Bosch and exchange with the herbarium Uppsala (e. g. E. Fries, Th. Fries, Massalongo).
The lichen collection is the most comprehensive in Hessen and of outstanding scientific importance for this federal state and neighbouring regions. It is also one of the largest and most important historical lichen collections within Germany. The Cladonia-collections of Scriba are of international importance.

J. P. Huths “Herbarium vivum Wetteravicum 1713” contains the oldest known lichen specimens from Hessen. Since 1988, the lichen herbarium has been curated by H. J. Reimer, H. Schöller and H. Thüs and is now merged into an alphabetically sorted general herbarium. As an ongoing project, collections are currently recorded in a BRAHMS database.

The pteridophyte herbarium (ca 55.000 specimens) is the second largest cryptogamic collection in FR. Large parts of the collection were made by E. Migula, W. R. Müller-Stoll, R. Kräusel and W. Jacobsen. The geographical emphasis is on South-Africa.

Bryophytes are represented by ca 45.000 specimens. The collections of C. Bosch (with many valuable 19th-century exsiccata series), V. F. Brotherus, J. A. Futschig (10.000 specimens predominantly from Hessen) and W. Hillebrand (Canary Islands) are especially worth mentioning.

Algae (ca 7.000 specimens) have been a subject of research since the foundation of the “Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft” in 1817. The publications by G. Fresenius (1808-1866) and M. Möbius (1859-1946) are still important contributions to the understanding of this group of organisms. The Algae herbarium comprises important historical collections by G. H. B. Jürgens (1771-1846) and G. L. Rabenhorst (1806-1881) as well as specimens collected by O. and W. Bok, K. Förster, J. Müller, G. H. Schwabe and E. Wehrle. A highlight is the diatom collection of H. Lange-Bertalot with more than 4.000 samples including 950 types (see also Prof. Dr. D. Mollenhauer).

The fungal herbarium (ca 40.000 specimens) contains mostly parasitic fungi, many of them in large exsiccata series. The most important collectors are G. Eberle, K. Fuckel, G. J. Herpell, H. Rupprecht and R. Steppan. The extensive collection by H. L. Hilfrichs comprises ca 10.000 basidiomycetes from Germany. The particularly valuable collection of W. Villinger contains 1650 watercolour plates drawn from mushrooms collected around Offenbach. Since 2012 the fungal collection also serves as central repository for the project “Integrative Fungal Research” (LOEWE-IPF).

Carl Bosch as a scientific collector – recording, indexing and digitization of the moss herbarium of Carl Bosch (Gerhard Winter, Lisa Bleck, Klaus-Tschira-Foundation 00.351.2018)