In the threshold of the 100-year anniversary of the Chugach National Forest, Russian mycologist and senior researcher Dr. Misha Zhurbenko, of the Komarov Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg, has discovered and described a species new to science from the Chugach. This new species of lichenicolous (parasitic on lichens) fungi is named Corticifraga chugachiana (Figure 1), which refers to the Chugach National Forest near where it was first collected in the vicinity of Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. Dr. Zhurbenko routinely collaborates with mycologists and lichenologists from the University of Alaska–Fairbanks and the Tongass National Forest.

Lichenicolous fungi represent an important ecological group of species that form obligate associations with lichens. They often have parasitic (but rarely killing the host lichen) and saprotrophic (feeding on decaying host lichen tissue) interactions with their host lichen. These species growing only on lichens are one of the least explored groups of fungi. The fungi can look like tiny galls, or dark, bumpy spots on the body of the lichen. Lichenicolous fungi are often differentiated from each other by the shape and size of their microscopic spores in the laboratory. The host specificity of lichenicolous fungi is high, with as many as 95% thought to be associated with only a single lichen genus.

The lichen host for this new fungus is Lobaria oregana (or lettuce lichen). It is common to coastal forests in Alaska. Lichens are composite organisms, consisting of fungi, algae, and sometimes cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that live intimately together in a symbiotic relationship. There are over 300 known species of lichens on the Chugach National Forest and over 500 on the Tongass National Forest. Corticifraga chugachiana is not the same fungus that is associated with algae that together make Lobaria oregana. This lichenicolous fungus grows on the upper and lower surfaces of Lobaria oregana, and the infected parts turn brown, die, and decompose. This discoloration is visible in the field, but the fungus may take a more trained eye to detect with a hand lens.

Until the 1990s, lichenicolous fungi had only been studied intensively in Europe. However, many recent studies in North America quickly raised the number of species to several hundred, with an estimated hundreds more awaiting discovery and description. It is also estimated that Alaska may have no fewer that 300 species of this type of fungi, but to date only 36 are known. Some lichenicolous fungi have smaller distribution ranges than their host lichens, and appear to be more restricted to places with high biodiversity. In Europe, these fungi have been used as indicators of forests with long historical continuity. The unexplored biodiversity and ecological roles of lichenicolous fungi awaits discovery in the Alaska Region.