DOWNLOAD full IUCN Assessment as PDF

TAXONOMIC NOTES:
Leptogium hibernicum Mitch ex P.M. Jørg. sensu stricto has an amphi-Atlantic distribution
encompassing eastern North America and Western Europe. Specimens from South America,
southwestern North America and New Zealand are reported to be part of a species complex of different clades (Stone et al. 2016, Bjelland 2017). The African specimens appear segregated into a separate evolutionary lineage and have been named Leptogium krogiae Bjelland, Frisch & Bendiksby. Even considering only northern hemisphere records, these are likely to encompass both L. hibernicum and the morphologically similar L. laceroides (Aragon et al. 2005, Anderson 2012), and some records in international databases probably represent the latter species.

ASSESSMENT JUSTIFICATION [criteria: A3ce+4ace]

The small, isolated, and widely-disjunct subpopulations of this epiphytic cyanolichen are restricted to areas of long ecological continuity in northern hemisphere, temperate, highly humid/hyperhumid, oceanic/montane areas of western Europe and wastern North America. This species is reported from 10 northern hemisphere countries. Over 40% of records come from the countries where the species has already been regionally assessed as threatened: listed as Near Threatened in Britain (Woods & Coppins, 2012) and Endangered in Norway (Bjelland and Ihlen, 2013). The subpopulation in Norway has been documented to have declined by 45% between 1995-2020. Climate change and poor habitat quality is forecast to cause losses in the UK, one of its population strongholds. Current losses and the climate change threat combine with declines forecast from the impacts of forestry in Canada and France, and a lack of new habitat. As the species also occurs on trees with a less acidic bark, it is susceptible to the decline of the European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior), which is under threat from an invasive fungus, Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Future population reductions of 30-70% are estimated based on projecting current rates of decline forward over the next 90 years, with the lower estimate estimated based on direct losses to host trees from forestry, development and management changes and the higher figure suspected by adding the effects based on climate change forecasts. Threats are exacerbated by its low occurrence numbers and widely disjunct subpopulations. For these reasons, this species is listed as Endangered under criteria A3ce+4ace.

Assessor/s: Anderson, F. & Yahr, R., J.; Reviewer/s: Ellis, C. J. E.; Contributor/s: Acton, A., Bjelland, T., Gerault, A., López de Silanes , M., Masson, D., Matos, P., Perez-Ortega, S, Sanderson, N., Seaward, M.R.D.S. & Simkin, J.; Facilitator/s & Compiler/s: Allen, J.

Bibliography:

Anderson, F. (2012) Reports of Leptogium hibernicum from the southern Appalachian Mountains, a major range extension for the species in North America. Opuscula Philolichenum 11: 135-138.

Aragon, G., Otálora, M.A.G. & Martínez, I. (2005) New data on the genus Leptogium (lichenized
ascomycetes) in the Iberian Peninsula. Nova Hedwigia 80(1-2): 241-246.

Arvidsson, L. & Wall, S. (1985) Contribution to the lichen flora of Madeira. Lichenologist 17(1): 39-49.

Berglund, H. & Jonsson, B.G. (2005) Verifying an extinction debt among lichens and fungi in northern Swedish boreal forests. Conservation Biology 19: 338–348.

Bjelland, T. (2001) Comparative studies of the distribution and ecology of some oceanic species in the genus Leptogium (Lecanorales, Ascomycotina) in Norway. Nova Hedwigia 72(1): 1-44.

Bjelland, T. & Ihlen, P.G. (2013) Utkast til faggrunnlag for irsk hinnelav (Leptogium hibernicum) i Norge. Rådgivende Biologer AS, Bergen.

Bjelland, T., Bendiksby, M. & Frisch, A. (2017) Geographically disjunct phylogenetic lineages in
Leptogium hibernicum reveal Leptogium krogiae sp. nov. from East Africa. Lichenologist 49(3): 239-251.

British Lichen Society. Map of Leptogium hibernicum distribution in UK. Available at:
https://www.britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/leptogium-hibernicum. (Accessed: May 2021).

CNALH (2020) Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria. Available at:
https://lichenportal.org/cnalh/ . (Accessed: 18 May).

Coppins, A.M. & Coppins, B.J. (2002) Indices of Ecological Continuity for Woodland Epiphytic Lichen Habitats in the British Isles. The British Lichen Society, Wimbledon.

Ellis, C.J. (2012) Lichen epiphyte diversity: A species, community and trait-based review. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 14: 131-152.

Ellis, C.J. & Coppins, B.J. (2019) Five decades of decline for old-growth indicator lichens in Scotland. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 76(3): 319-331.

Ellis, C. J. & Eaton, S. (2021) Microclimates hold the key to spatial forest planning under climate change: Cyanolichens in temperate rainforest. Global Change Biology 27(9): 1915-1926.

Fedrowitz, K., Kuusinen, M. & Snäll, T. (2012) Metapopulation dynamics and future persistence of epiphytic cyanolichens in a European boreal forest ecosystem. Journal of Applied Ecology 49: 493–502.

Global Forest Watch (2021) Global Forest Watch Map. Available at: https://www.globalforestwatch.org/map/.

Infraestrutura de Dados Espaciais (IDE). Infraestrutura de Dados Espaciais (IDE) da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas . Available at: https://geocatalogo.icnf.pt/. (Accessed: May 2021).

IUCN (2021) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-2. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 04 September 2021).

Johansson, V., Snäll, T. & Ranius, T. (2013) Estimates of connectivity reveal non-equilibrium epiphyte occurrence patterns almost 180 years after habitat decline. Oecologia 172: 607–615.

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (2008) Upland Mixed Ash Woods. In: Maddock, A. (ed.), UK Biodiversity Action Plan; Priority Habitat Descriptions. BRIG. JNCC, Peterborough.

Jones, M. P. (1999) Notes on the distribution and composition of epiphytic lichen communities with Nephroma laevigatum Ach. in Portugal. Portugaliae Acta Biologica 18: 15-20.

Jones, M. P. (2002) Some information on the distribution of lichens in Portugal. Portugaliae Acta
Biologica 20: 121-224.

Jørgensen, P. M. (2007) Massalongiaceae. Nordic Lichen Flora. Volume 3, Cyanolichens, Svenska Botaniska Föreningen, Uppsala.

Lopez de Silanes, M.E. (2012) The genus Leptogium (Collemataceae, Ascomycotina) in mainland Portugal. Sydowia 64: 67-102.

Lopez de Silanes, M. E. & Carballal, R. (1989) Liquenes con cianoficeas de Caaveiro, de Coruña (N-O de España). Cryptogamie. Bryologie, Lichénologie 10(3): 247-252.

Muggia, L., Kati, V., Rohrer, A., Halley, J. & Mayrhofer, H. (2018) Species diversity of lichens in the sacred groves of Epirus (Greece). Herzogia 31(1): 231-244.

Myhre, T. (2011) Local distribution patterns of lichen epiphytes in a western Norwegian deciduous forest – relationship to available substrate. Masters of Science thesis, University of Oslo.

Natureserve. Available at: https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.834845/Leptogium_hibernicum. (Accessed: May 2021).

Öckinger, E. & Nilsson, S.G. 2010. Local population extinction and vitality of an epiphytic lichen in fragmented old-growth forest. Ecology 91: 2100–2109.

Patterson, G., Nelson, D., Robertson, P. & Tullis, J. (2014) Scotland’s Native Woodlands. Forestry Commission Scotland, Edinburgh.

Roux, C. (2020) Catalog of lichens and lichenicolous fungi in mainland France. 3rd revised and expanded edition. French Association of Lichenology (AFL), Fontainebleau.

Scotland's Environment. Available at: https://www.environment.gov.scot/data/data-analysis/protectednature-sites/; https://www.environment.gov.scot/our-environment/state-of-theenvironment/ecosystem-health-indicators/. (Accessed: 14 May 2021.).

Seaward, M.R.D. (2010) Census catalogue of Irish lichens. National Museums Northern Ireland., Belfast.

Smith, C.W., Aptroot, A., Coppins, B.J., Fletcher, A., Gilbert, O.L., James, P.W. & Wolseley, P.A. (2009) The Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland. British Lichen Society, London.

Stone, D., Hinds, J.W., Anderson, F.L. & Lendemer, J.C. (2016) A revision of the Leptogium saturninum group in North America. Lichenologist 48(5): 387-421.

Tingstad, L., Gjerde I., Dahlberg, A. & Grytnes, J. A. (2017) The influence of spatial scales on Red List composition: Forest species in Fennoscandia. Global Ecology and Conservation 11: 247-297.

Urbanavichus, G., Vondrak, J., Urbanavichene, I., Palice, Z. & Malíček, J. (2020) Lichens and allied nonlichenized fungi of virgin forests in the Caucasus State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Western Caucasus, Russia). Herzogia 33(1): 90-138.

Woods, R.G. & Coppins, B.J. (2012) A Conservation Evaluation of British Lichens and Lichenicolous Fungi. Species Status No. 13. JNCC, Peterborough.

Find out more about the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria here.

TYPE. IRELAND. Kerry, Killarney, Torc cascade, on mossy trees, 4.VIII.1933, G. Degelius s.n. (UPS, holotype).

Description. Lichenized fungus.

Thallus foliose, up to 5 cm diam., becoming markedly swollen when wet. Lobes 5–10 mm wide, overlapping with raised, rounded or partly dissected margins; swelling markedly when wet. Upper surface brownish or bluish gray, ± transversely wrinkled-striate. Vegetative diaspores isidia: coarse, nodular, in patches, or lobules developing along margins and on the surface. Lower surface paler, uniformly finely pubescent-tomentose; tomental hairs ~20 µm long with globose end cells. Photobiont Nostoc cyanobacteria; cells in chains. Apothecia not known.

Substrate and Habitat. Corticolous on trunks in sheltered forests.

Distribution. Amphi-atlantic; in North Carolina found in the Blue Ridge ecoregion.

Literature

Anderson, F. (2012) Reports of Leptogium hibernicum from the southern Appalachian Mountains, a major range extension for the species in North America. Opuscula Philolichenum 11: 135-138

Gilbert, O.L. & P.M. Jørgensen. (2009) Leptogium (Ach.) Gray (1821). Pp. 541-551 in Smith, C.W., A. Aptroot, B.J. Coppins, A. Fletcher, O.L. Gilbert, P.W. James & P.A. Wolseley (eds.). The Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland. The British Lichen Society, London.