GYPSUM LICHENS: a global data set of lichen species from gypsum ecosystems

Sergio Muriel1, Gregorio Aragón1, Isabel Martínez1, María Prieto1

1 Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, c/ Tulipán s/n, 28933, Móstoles, Spain

Corresponding author(s): Sergio Muriel (sergio.muriel@urjc.es)Gregorio Aragón (gregorio.aragon@urjc.es)Isabel Martínez (isabel.martinez@urjc.es)María Prieto (maria.prieto@urjc.es)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Muriel S, Aragón G, Martínez I, Prieto M (2024). GYPSUM LICHENS: a global data set of lichen species from gypsum ecosystems. Version 1.2. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Occurrence dataset. https://doi.org/10.15470/6yne3u https://doi.org/10.15470/6yne3u

Abstract

Lichens are significant components of the Biological Soil Crust (BSC) communities in gypsum ecosystems and are involved in several processes related to ecosystem functioning. Although numerous studies centered on lichen taxonomy and ecology have been performed in these habitats, global information about the lichen species from gypsum ecosystems or their distributional ranges at a global scale is missing. Thus, a global data set of lichen species growing on gypsum has been compiled. 

A total of 321 studies were finally retained for the review. This data set is composed of 6114 specimen records, belonging to 336 lichen species from 26 countries throughout the World. Spain and Germany hosted the highest number of species (160 and 114 species respectively). Outside the European continent, only a few countries had a significant number of species: Morocco (46), United States (42), and Iran (37). Remarkably, countries from the southern hemisphere (i.e. Australia, Chile, Namibia, and South Africa) showed a low number of studies from gypsum lands. The number of records per country showed a similar pattern as the species number, having Spain and Germany the highest number of records (3863 and 1075 respectively).

Thirty one families are present in the data set. Teloschistaceae (56 species), Verrucariaceae (38 species), and Cladoniaceae (37 species) are the most represented families showing the highest number of species. Regarding the number of records, Cladoniaceae (1267 records), Teloschistaceae (972 records), and Psoraceae (539 records) are the most abundant families. Psora decipiens (Psoraceae) and Squamarina lentigera (Cladoniaceae) are the most widespread species concerning the number of countries in which the species were present, and the most abundant regarding the total number of records.

Keywords: Occurrence, Arid, Biological Soil Crust, BSC, Gypsiferous, Gypsophiles, Gypsovags, Saxicolous, Terricolous

Project details

Project title: GYPWORLD: A Global initiative to understand gypsum ecosystem ecology
Funding: European Union
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Gypsum ecosystems are mainly located in arid and semi-arid lands around the World: Australia, Eastern and Southwest Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, some territories of South America, USA, and Mexico, and Western and Central Asia

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=gypsum_lichens

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: The data set includes revised studies of gypsum soils from the Mediterranean Basin (e.g., Spain, Italy, Morocco, Turkey), Central Europe (Germany, Poland), Middle East (Iran, Iraq), and central parts of Asia (Kazakhstan, Russia), United States, Mexico, Canada, Chile, the southern territories of Africa (Namibia, South Africa), and Australia, covering a large part of the total distribution of the gypsum soils in the World
Coordinates: 21°0'21.46''N and 53°56'7.58''N Latitude; 119°28'2.03''W and 99°34'0.01''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: January 1, 1881 - December 12, 2018

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive GYPSUM LICHENS: a global data set of lichen species from gypsum ecosystems
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.gbif.es/archive.do?r=gypsum_lichens
Publication date of data: 2024-01-22
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2024-01-16
Hierarchy level: Dataset