New records of lichens from the Russian Far East. III. Lichens of coastal habitats

Aspicilia subepiglypta, Buellia subdisciformis, Calogaya arnoldii, Flavoplaca flavocitrina, Lecanora swartzii, and Lecidella scabra are reported as new records for the Russian Far East. Rinodina gennarii and Lecidella asema are newly recorded for the mainland of the Russian Far East. Rare lichens Cladonia subconistea and Leptotrema litophila are newly found in coastal habitats; Caloplaca atroflava is new for Sakhalin Island, and Umbilicaria vellea is new for Kuril Islands.Peer reviewe

Three new species of crustose Teloschistaceae in Siberia and the Far East

Three species of the family Teloschistaceae (lichenized Ascomycota) are described as new to science from Southern and Eastern Siberia and the Far East. Corticolous Caloplaca saviczii belongs to the genus Caloplaca s. str.; it has C. cerina-like apothecia and green to grey-green, crateriform soralia with a white rim. Lendemeriella aureopruinosa is a saxicolous taxon with a thin grey thallus and small apothecia 0.3-0.6 mm in diameter, with a dark orange disc usually bearing epipsamma and often with a grey true exciple containing the pigment Cinereorufa-green. Orientophila infirma is a corticolous species with an endophloeodal thallus and small orange apothecia, 0.2-0.3 mm in diameter, usually with an inconspicuous thalline exciple. All new taxa presumably have a boreal north-eastern distribution in Asia

Session 08 Germination and dormancy

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Global consortium for the classification of fungi and fungus-like taxa

The Global Consortium for the Classification of Fungi and fungus-like taxa is an international initiative of more than 550 mycologists to develop an electronic structure for the classification of these organisms. The members of the Consortium originate from 55 countries/regions worldwide, from a wide range of disciplines, and include senior, mid-career and early-career mycologists and plant pathologists. The Consortium will publish a biannual update of the Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa, to act as an international scheme for other scientists. Notes on all newly published taxa at or above the level of species will be prepared and published online on the Outline of Fungi website (https://www.outlineoffungi.org/), and these will be finally published in the biannual edition of the Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa. Comments on recent important taxonomic opinions on controversial topics will be included in the biannual outline. For example, 'to promote a more stable taxonomy in Fusarium given the divergences over its generic delimitation', or 'are there too many genera in the Boletales?' and even more importantly, 'what should be done with the tremendously diverse 'dark fungal taxa?' There are undeniable differences in mycologists' perceptions and opinions regarding species classification as well as the establishment of new species. Given the pluralistic nature of fungal taxonomy and its implications for species concepts and the nature of species, this consortium aims to provide a platform to better refine and stabilise fungal classification, taking into consideration views from different parties. In the future, a confidential voting system will be set up to gauge the opinions of all mycologists in the Consortium on important topics. The results of such surveys will be presented to the International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF) and the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi (NCF) with opinions and percentages of votes for and against. Criticisms based on scientific evidence with regards to nomenclature, classifications, and taxonomic concepts will be welcomed, and any recommendations on specific taxonomic issues will also be encouraged; however, we will encourage professionally and ethically responsible criticisms of others' work. This biannual ongoing project will provide an outlet for advances in various topics of fungal classification, nomenclature, and taxonomic concepts and lead to a community-agreed classification scheme for the fungi and fungus-like taxa. Interested parties should contact the lead author if they would like to be involved in future outlines. </div

Key Biochemical Attributes to Assess Soil Ecosystem Sustainability

Soil is not a renewable resource, at least within the human timescale. In general, any anthropic exploitation of soils tends to disturb or divert them from a more “natural” development which, by definition, represents the best comparison term for measuring the relative shift from soil sustainability. The continuous degradation of soil health and quality due to abuse of land potentiality or intensive management occurs since decades. Soil microbiota, being ‘the biological engine of the Earth’, provides pivotal services in the soil ecosystem functioning. Hence, management practices protecting soil microbial diversity and resilience, should be pursued. Besides, any abnormal change in rate of innumerable soil biochemical processes, as mediated by microbial communities, may constitute early and sensitive warning of soil homeostasis alteration and, therefore, diagnoses a possible risk for soil sustainability. Among the vastness of soil biochemical processes and related attributes (bioindicators) potentially able to assess the sustainable use of soils, those related to mineralisation-immobilisation of major nutrients (C and N), including enzyme activity (functioning) and composition (community diversity) of microbial biomass, have paramount importance due to their centrality in soil metabolism. In this chapter we have compared, under various pedoclimates, the impact of different agricultural factors (fertilisation, tillage, etc.) under either intensive and sustainable managements on soil microbial community diversity and functioning by both classical and molecular soil quality indicators, in order to outline the most reliable soil biochemical attributes for assessing risky shifts from soil sustainability