|
NPLichen: A Database of Lichens in the U.S. National Parks |
|
This database contains over 29,900 records of documented occurrences of lichens in units of the U. S. National Park System. The records were obtained from the scientific literature, from National Park Service reports, and from the University of Minnesota Herbarium. Unpublished herbarium records from other herbaria are not included because they cannot be cited. Over 530 references reporting almost 2,650 lichen species from 153 park units (map) are included. Only parks with reported lichens are included in the database. We have been unable to locate lichen references for other parks in the National Park system. All lichen names were standardized to Version 13 (2008) of Esslinger's Checklist of North American Lichens. Please view the NPLichen Disclaimers before running any of the queries. Currently you have a choice of three different queries (right). You may select a park and get a list of either lichens in that park or references associated with that park. You may select a species and get a list of parks that species occurs in, a map of parks where the species occurs (for added mapping functionality, please visit our lichen mapper), or a list of references associated with that species. And finally you may select a reference code to retrieve the full bibliographic citation for a lichen/park occurrence or to retrieve the list of species associated with that reference. The result pages from these queries can be printed directly from the web browser using the print command, or can be copied and pasted into a word processor and printed. Use the back button on your web browser to return to this page after running each query.
|
Please choose a national park below to obtain a list of lichen species that are present in the park or to get a complete list of references for that park. Note: You must specify either "Species List" or "References" in order for the query to work. Please choose a lichen species below to see which parks each lichen species can be found in. For a list of species or map of parks where the species is found, please choose "Park List" or "Map." For a list of references for that species, please choose "References." If you cannot find the species you are looking for in this list, it may be a species that we believe has been misidentified. Please check the complete list of Misidentified Lichen Species to find out. Please select a reference code below to obtain either the complete citation or a complete species list. Note: You must specify either "Full Reference" or "Species List" in order for the query to work. |
Output of the park list report includes the species name and authority of all the species found in the park, the reference code for each occurrence, whether or not the type for a species was described from the park, and whether or not the presence of the species in the park has been verified. The latter is determined by knowing whether or not the locality was inside or outside the park boundary. The species list report is similar, but instead includes a list of parks where the species was found, the reference code, the type if applicable, and whether or not the occurrence has been verified.
 |
| Crustose lichens at Petrified Forest National Park - photo by Scott Williams |
At the end of the park list and species list reports is a tally of how many lichen species are found in a park or how many parks a lichen species is found in, respectively. No park has a complete list of species because collecting activity is on-going. But, many parks are considered near complete, while others have only a few listed. This is due to the sources of the data.
Some of the lichen names in the parks are of old group species that have recently been split into smaller species. Also, in some cases, the specimen on which an original report was based has been reidentified as another, also accepted, name. References to these older species are included as well as the more recent splits (if any) or identification so the total species and lists for a park may not be accurate. This cannot be resolved without reexamination of the original specimens on which the reports were based. In addition, when a specimen is listed in the result set as a type, it may mean that the type of a synonym was collected in the park and not the type of the older, correct name that is listed.
As more information becomes available over time, taxonomic groupings are often reshuffled, resulting in disagreement about the proper placement of some organisms. Many lichenologists do not accept all of the genera and species listed in the North American Checklist, which was used as a reference in standardizing this list of names. A list of lichen species in national park units that have not yet been added to the North American Checklist, which are included in this database, can be found by viewing the list of Lichens Not in the North American Checklist. In addition, we believe that some species of lichens that are listed in the literature have been misidentified. These species are not listed in the species query, but are available in a separate list of Misidentified Lichen Species. If misidentified species have been attributed to a park, they are listed separately from the correct species when the results of the park query are returned.
This database does not contain a complete park list or detailed information on other aspects of the U. S. National Parks. For a complete list of parks and information on where the parks are located, size of parks, etc. please visit the National Park Service website.
A paper about this website can be found in the newest issue of the Bryologist. A report detailing all the methods and work that generated this database, and metadata describing the data available in the database, are also available. To see publicity about this website, please view the news announcement from the USGS. You must have Adobe Acrobat to read these files.
 For more information about element concentrations of lichens in National Parks, please visit our companion website NPElement. |  |
 |
Toxic Lichen InformationIn early 2004, wild elk in Wyoming began to weaken and die of an unknown cause. The deaths were eventually attributed to having eaten the lichen Xanthoparmelia chlorochroa. News briefs from this incident, along with a list of literature about other lichen species that may be toxic to wildlife are now available. You must have Adobe Acrobat to read this file. |
| Reindeer eating lichen | |
This database was developed jointly by James P. Bennett, U. S. Geological Survey and University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI and Clifford M. Wetmore, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. Website development was by Kara Jensen, with help from Paul Gunther and Therese Aschkenase, both at University of Wisconsin. Funding for this database was provided by the U. S. Geological Survey, Madison, WI and the Great Lakes Network Office, National Park Service, Ashland, WI.
The following citation may be used when referencing this site: NPLichen, A Database of Lichens in the U. S. National Parks. [fill in date]. Version 4.5. U. S. Geological Survey. http://www.ies.wisc.edu/nplichen. Accessed [fill in date].
For technical questions about website content, or if you have queries that are not offered here, please contact Jim Bennett at jpbennet@wisc.edu, (608) 262-5489, or Cliff Wetmore at wetmore@umn.edu, (612) 625-6292.
This database was last updated on April 30, 2008.
|
|||||||
285 new records have been added to the database!
