Towards a digital key to the lichens of Italy

AbstractWork is in progress for the completion of a computer-aided key to all lichens known to occur in Italy, which will be freely available online, and as a free application for mobile devices. A first example, concerning the lichens of Northern Italy (2.339 infrageneric taxa), is already available online for testing. A computer-generated but manually edited dichotomous key is invoked for all species previously filtered via a multi-entry interface, where several selected characters can be specified in a single step. To optimize the two query interfaces, two different datasets are used, one for the dichotomous, the other for the multi-entry interface

On the typification of the lichen genus Lepra Scop.

The first typification of Lepra Scop. by Pertusaria discoidea (Pers.) Malme (= Lepra albescens (Hudson) Hafellner), made in the Paris Code (1956), is shown to be correct after studies of the original material in the Micheli Herbarium in FI. Details of the latter are given. All later statements about this case, even in the Code , are irrelevant.acceptedVersio

An integrated system for producing user-specific keys on demand: an application to Italian lichens

The identification of lichens is important in several applied fields, such as the biological monitoring of air pollution and the restoration of openair stone monuments. This often creates relevant problems for non-specialists and technicians which are in charge of routinely applying lichen monitoring techniques. The coupling of a complex information system (ITALIC), together with a new software which can automatically produce identification keys for any subset of species included in a database (FRIDA), is an innovative approach in the field of identifying biodiversity. ITALIC is able to produce a list of species which potentially occur under a set of ecological and distributional conditions specified by the user. The list is automatically transferred to FRIDA, which generates a user-oriented interactive identification key limited to the species present in the “virtual habitat” created by the user. The new system has relevant applications, since it effectively supports the technical personnel of Environmental Agencies, Nature Parks, Cultural Heritage Conservation Agencies involved in lichen monitoring throughout the Country

Guida alla flora delle Alpi Carniche meridionali (Ampezzo - Sauris)

This book is a guide to the vascular plants occurring in the sector of the southern Carnic Alps (NE Italy) that stretches from Ampezzo to Sauris (Province of Udine), plus the adjoining area in the Province of Belluno which includes M. Bivera, M. Tiarfin and the subalpine meadows around Casera Razzo (1244 infrageneric taxa). The general introduction is followed by an original dichotomous key produced using software FRIDA, illustrated by photographs and ecological-biogeographical notes for all species. The appendix contains some elementary notions of Botany and an index of the scientific names associated with those of the respective families.Il volume è una guida alle piante vascolari sinora note per il settore delle Alpi Carniche meridionali che si estende da Ampezzo alla Conca di Sauris (UD), comprendendo anche un’area in provincia di Belluno che include il M. Bivera, il M. Tiarfin e i pascoli subalpini nei dintorni di Casera Razzo (1244 tra specie e sottospecie). L’introduzione generale è seguita da una chiave dicotomica originale, prodotta utilizzando il programma FRIDA, illustrata da fotografie e note ecologico-biogeografiche per tutte le specie. L’appendice contiene alcune nozioni di botanica elementare e l’indice dei nomi scientifici delle piante associati a quelli delle rispettive famiglie

I licheni epifiti del Parco Naturale di Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino

Da molti anni, nel Parco di Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino sono in corso ricerche sui licheni che hanno permesso di realizzare un inventario delle specie e di apportare contributi originali alle conoscenze sulla loro ecologia. Il Parco di Paneveggio ha una missione molto importante nella conservazione dei licheni: nel suo territorio ne sono noti quasi 650, pari al 50% dei licheni del Trentino-Alto Adige, che è la regione italiana con il maggior numero di specie note. Tuttavia, una stima realistica della biodiversità lichenica del Parco potrebbe essere di circa 900 specie! Il Parco ha commissionato al Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita dell'Università di Trieste la realizzazione di una guida interattiva ai licheni epifiti, che al momento include 242 specie e che è consultabile in rete dal sito del Parco o da quello del progetto Dryades (www.dryades.eu). L'identificazione dei macrolicheni (licheni fruticosi, fogliosi e squamulosi) può essere effettuata anche senza l'uso del microscopio,ed è quindi più facile. Al contrario, per l'identificazione dei licheni crostosi è spesso indispensabile osservare caratteri anatomici al microscopio, soprattuto quelli relativi alle spore

A search tool for the digital biodiversity resources of KeyToNature

The European KeyToNature project has created a framework to gather large amounts of biodiversity-related digital data and metadata from cooperating providers and to make them publicly available via an advanced search engine tool. The novelty of the solution consists in the creation of specific queries for the search web service in the KeyToNature digital repository, in the implementation of a communication protocol between the client application and the repository server, and in other original solutions for metadata presentation

Modifiable digital identification keys

The Open Key Editor (OKE) is a tool for editing and enriching existing identification keys and to produce localized ‘minikeys’ that apply to local flora and fauna, such as in parks, nature reserves and school gardens, or keys that apply to a particular season. The minikeys are easier to use than their originals, simply because of the fact that they deal with less species, their language can be adapted to a particular audience (e.g. pupils), and because they always point to species that are known to be present. OKE also allows the inclusion of user-generated content in any minikey (new text, images, hyperlinks etc.). The output of minikeys can be automatically tailored for display on computers, smartphones or PDA’s

Refining the picture: new records to the lichen biota of Italy

Based on the analysis of both historical and recent collections, this paper reports an annotated list of taxa which are new to the lichen biota of Italy or of its administrative regions. Specimens were identified using a dissecting and a compound microscope; routine chemical spot tests and standardized thin-layer chromatography (TLC or HPTLC). The list includes 225 records of 153 taxa. Twenty taxa are new to Italy, the others are new to one or more administrative regions, with 15 second records and 5 third records for Italy. Some of the species belong to recently-described taxa, others are poorly known, sterile or ephemeral lichens which were largely overlooked in Italy. Several species are actually rare, either because of the rarity of their habitats (e.g. old-growth forests), or because in Italy they are at the margins of their bioclimatic distribution. The picture of the lichen biota of Italy has now new pixels, but its grain is still coarse. Further analysis of historical collections, increased efforts in the exploration of some areas, and the taxonomic revision of critical groups are still necessary to provide more complete distributional data for new biogeographic hypotheses, taxonomic and ecological research, and biodiversity conservation