The Taxonomy And Biogeography Study Of Alectoria, Oropogon And Sulcaria Lichens In Hengduan Moutains Of China

Lies in the southwest of China, Hengduan Mountain boast a rich lichen flora, and is among the most diversified area in Asia. Hengduan Mountain mainly includes the northwest part of Yunnan province, west part of Sichuan province and southeast of Tibet. Recent studies on lichens have revealed the uniqueness and diversification of the lichen flora in Hengduan Mountain. Because of its special and complex morphological character, Alectorioides lichen draws much research attention. Alectorioides lichen is primarily consisted of the following genus:Alectoria Ach., Bryoria Brodo & D.Hawksw., Oropogon Th.Fr., Pseudephebe M.Choisy and Sulcaria Bystr., all of which are taxonomically belong to family Parmeliaceae. Members from Alectoria Ach., Oropogon Th.Fr. and Sulcaria Bystr. are the dominant species under cold and wet environment, especially in the high elevation. However, there is lack of study on the systematic taxonomy and biogeography of these lichen genera.Based on the herbarium of Kunming Institute of Botany (KUN), lichen specimen that collected in Hengduan Mountain were carefully examined. Species identification was primarily done morphologically according to corresponding taxonomy literatures, and when necessary, color reaction and thin layer chromatography (TLC) were also employed. The author thus complied a detailed description as well as distribution illustrations on species that dwell in Hengduan Mountain, and the main findings were displayed as follows:Alectoria Ach. shows some similarity with Usnea (Hill.) Wigg. in the appearance, but lack of central axis. There are 8 species and 1 subspecies worldwide under this genus,4 of which in Asia, and 2 of which in China. The only species that present in Hengduan Mountain is Alectoria ochroleuca. and there were no exception in the 16 copies of species that deposited in KUN. However, it is the first time that this species was found in Tibet.Oropogon Th.Fr. exhibit great deal of morphological variation, and anatomical observation under the microscope alone could not possibly distinguish the specimen to species level. Thus it is rather necessary to introduce color reaction or TLC methods to accomplish accurate identification. There are 36 species worldwide under this genus,8 in Asia, seven in China, and 5 in Hengduan Mountain.224 copies of specimen deposited in KUN were identified by chemical methods, which yielded 6 identical species. Oropogon loxensis is the first time reported in Yunnan province and Tibet, and naturally first time in Asia. What is more,25 copies of specimen were suspected to be O. barbaticus, however, only when sufficient detailed evidences from morphology, chemistry, and molecular biology combined could it be more prudent to declare the existence of this species in China.Sularia Bystr. had 3 species worldwide,2 species,2 subspecies and 1 formation in Asia, except Sulcaria sulcata var. barbata (only found in Taiwan province), all the rest 4 species subspecies formations were present in Hengduan Mountain. The species identification had yielded a new distribution record of S. sulcata f. vulpinoides in Sichuan province. S. virens var. forrestii was treated as a synonym to S. virens.With the development of molecular technology and its further system-theory researches, associating lichen's shape research with its chemical research and genotype research has gradually been the tendency to study lichen taxonomy. Due to complexity of its external form, lichen fungus's many shape characteristic and physiological and biochemical indexes vary with the environmental changes. Then at the process of taxonomy study, many researchers easily misidentified the same species with different phenotype in different growing environment as different species. Accordingly, lichen's taxonomy status and its evolutionary relationships are usually become confusing thanks to unstable factors. Nowadays, it has been not reported about the molecules study on Alectorioides lichen at home and abroad. Then the molecules study on the Alectorioides lichen in Hengduan Mountains based on classical taxonomy could reduce false image caused by convergence phenomena of some creatures and subjective factors of man.Discussions about the morphological, chemical and geography of species from Alectoria, Oropogon and Sulcaria in this dissertation will shed light on scientific development and management of lichen resources in our country, which may provide useful information dedicated to future study in more comprehensive way.