A Successful Workshop On Verrucariales!

Verrucariologists from different countries in Europe and North America gathered at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Akureyri for the 2nd workshop on the order Verrucariales.

Participants of the 2nd workshop on Verrucariales in “Jarðbaðshólar” close to lake Myvatn. Standing: Hörður Kristinsson, Maria Prieto, Alan Orange, Sanja Savić, Juha Pykälä, Lars Fröberg. Sitting: Leif Tibell, Cécile Gueidan, Starri Heiðmarsson, Beata Krzewicka, Christine Keller, Holger Thüs, François Lutzoni.

There were eleven participants in the workshop in addition to the two lichenologists working at the institute, Hörður Kristinsson and Starri Heiðmarsson. The workshop was very successful, many interesting seminars were given and the two days in the field brought to light many interesting specimens, many of which represent taxa previously unknown for Iceland.

The seminars at the workshop gave insight into the phylogeny and taxonomy of several genera together with a broader perspective of the phylogeny of the whole family Verrucariaceae. The ecology of freshwater species and high mountain species in Sweden was also scrutinized in the seminars. Molecular data played an important part in many of the seminars and participants were agreed on that cooperation in this field would be beneficial to all.

Cooperation was established in order to write a Volume on Verrucariaceae for the Nordic Lichen Flora; an ongoing project which already has produced two Volumes, one on calicioid lichens and the other on Physciaceae.

Support for the Workshop came from the Icelandic Institute of Natural History and the Town of Akureyri.