The natural "carpet" of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has been renewed! Scientists have discovered 11 new species of lichens

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters. It has a vast territory and diverse habitats, ranging from forests, grasslands to deserts. The unique geographical environment has given birth to peculiar and diverse lichen species. Among the many organisms, lichens are a type of organism that rarely attracts public attention.

Recently, researchers from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, discovered 11 new species of lichens during the second scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and established the genus Pseudolichen.

The type species of the genus Lecaimmeria (left: Lecaimmeria orbicularis) and the type species of the genus Immersaria (right: Immersaria athroocarpa)

Image source: Key Laboratory of East Asian Plant Diversity and Biogeography, Chinese Academy of Sciences

**Lichen, also known as lichen-type fungi, is a complex composed of algae and fungi symbiotically, with unique biological characteristics such as morphology, structure, physiology and genetics. **Lichens can be divided into three types according to their morphology: crustose lichens, leafy lichens and branched lichens. Many lichens are also hard to find food ingredients, such as snow vegetables and ground ears. Snow tea, ground tea, golden brush, golden ribbon, etc. can be used to make tea.

The newly discovered lichens of the genus Pseudocycota are mainly distributed in high mountains and are often found in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at an altitude of 3,800 to 4,500 meters. They grow on exposed rock surfaces and often form a colorful "carpet" with different lichen groups.

In the second scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, researchers from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted several scientific expeditions to the lichens on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and achieved fruitful scientific research results. In September 2020, led by Wang Lisong, a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the lichen research team of the institute began a one-month scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Habitat of the genus Pseudosphagnum at an altitude of 4500 meters

Image source: Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The research results were published in the international academic journal "MycoKeys". Xie Congmiao (visiting graduate student) from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences is the first author of the paper, and Wang Xinyu from the Kunming Institute of Botany and Zhang Lulu from Shandong Normal University are co-corresponding authors. The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Second Comprehensive Scientific Survey and Research on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the open project of the State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Sustainable Utilization of Western Plant Resources.

Paper link:

https://mycokeys.pensoft.net/article/72614/

Comprehensive sources: CCTV News Client, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Spring City Evening News-Kaiping News, etc.