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Buellia asterella, the Starry Breck Lichen, has been accepted for inclusion in the IUCN Global Red List with a conservation status of Critically Endangered. This is the first British lichen to be included in the list.
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Earlier this month the South Yorkshire Biodiversity Research Group held a conference, Oliver Gilbert: A Life in Ecology, in Sheffield. Oliver had many interests including lichens. He was an active member of the BLS and author of the classic New Naturalist book on Lichens, published in March 2000.
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Erik Acharius (1757-1819) was Linnaeus's last student and the founder of modern systematic lichenology. Before his death in 2014, David Galloway found Acharius's personal, interleaved copy his book Lichenographiae suecicae Prodromus (1799) in the Manuscripts Department of the university library in Uppsala.
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Thanks to the Herculean efforts of Les Knight distribution maps for ALL the British species of lichens and lichenicolous fungi are now available within the species accounts for each taxon. We will update these maps when there are significant changes, and they will generally be more up to date and accurate than those on the NBN Gateway.
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An exhibition of lichen photographs by Northumberland photographer Iain Duncan has just opened in the main gallery and foyer of the Queen’s Hall, Hexham, and will be there until 22nd November 2014.
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The Caring for God's Acre project have just published a fabulous resource for schools to encourage them to get classes out exploring their local churchyards as part of their schoolwork.
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The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and British Lichen Society have made available a toolkit in which lichenologists can explore the consequences of climate change at a site-scale, for 382 lichen epiphyte species. A value of ‘environmental suitability’ can be compared for individual species, or across an assemblage of epiphytes, between the present-day and the 2050s and 2080s based on Met Office climate models.
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The BLS symposium on New Developments in Lichenology, held at Nottingham University on 10-11th January 2014, was a great success. A wide range of topics were covered, grouped into three main themes: Systematics, Ecophysiology, Communities and Environmental Quality. Key note presentations for these were given by Mats Wedin, Markus Hauck and Chris Ellis. Altogether 22 papers and 19 posters were presented.
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Calke Park will never be the same again. Following the BLS AGM and Symposium held at Nottingham University a visit was made to Calke Park (National Trust) by a contingent of members and guests, many from overseas. This National Nature Reserve was designated because of its high number of veteran trees. The trees themselves, the associated deadwood and the walls of the adjacent old buildings entertained the 38 attendees throughout this cool but dry winters day as an impressive record of the lichens was assembled.
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Frank Dobson (author of the popular and well-respected "Lichens - An Illustrated Guide") has recently published a new "Field Key to Lichens on Trees". This book contains colour photographs and illustrated keys. These keys use only characters that are visible in the field, by eye, or under a x10 hand lens. This combination enables the user to identify over 500 species of lichens which are likely to be found on trees.