Towards a Red List of the terricolous lichens of Italy

Abstract

Terricolous lichens, threatened in many areas of Europe, have been greatly overlooked in conservation policies. This work provides a provisional Red List of the terricolous lichens of Italy, to favour their inclusion in conservation policies. The taxa were assigned to IUCN categories according to a simplified assessment procedure based on their rarity and past/current distribution in the administrative regions and ecoregions of Italy. We evaluated 162 species: 30 were listed as regionally extinct, 22 critically endangered, 16 endangered, 49 vulnerable, 27 near-threatened, 7 least-concern, and 11 data deficient. A quarter of the terricolous lichens of Italy is likely to be threatened, but a rigorous assessment is hindered by the scarcity of data. Further field work is needed for more precise assessments of their conservation status.

Keywords:

• Biodiversity
• conservation
• floristics
• historical collections
• lichen biota
• Natura 2000 Network

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Chiara Nepi (Herbarium of the University of Firenze), Dr Anna Bendiscioli and Ms Maria Caterina Madaro (Library of the Botanical Garden of the University of Pavia) for providing access to some rare herbarium and literature sources.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.