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Lichen flora of the island of Lastovo (Croatia, Europe)

Lastovo Archipelago (Croatia, Europe) is one of the most remote groups of islands in the Adriatic Sea, with around 30 km distance from the nearest mainland. Its isolated position together with the fact that it was a military outpost during the wars of the last century, had an exceptional influence on the preservation of the unique natural characteristics of the island. Due to the extreme beauty and large biodiversity of the islands and the surrounding marine habitats, in 2006 it was proclaimed as a Croatian Nature Park. As a part of a biodiversity project, in 2007, the Lichenology group from the Biology Students Association conducted research in the newly established park. We found 40 species on the island Lastovo, the main island of the Lastovo Archipelago ; out of which, 33 species were found within the area of the Park. One of the determined lichen species Teloschistes chrysophthalmus (L.) Th.Fr. is listed as Near Threatened (NT) category according to IUCN categorization in the Red List of lichens of Croatia. Previous records of the lichen flora for Lastovo island date from 1938, and list a total of 55 species. We can hypothesize that some of the species previously recorded, but not found in this survey, could either be found in an inaccessible part of the island, became extinct due to the environmental changes, or were misrecorded by the previous survey. In order to enable the comparison the lichen flora with the flora with other Adriatic islands and to determine how the environmental changes influence the comparative species composition, more fieldwork and research using precise methods for assessing lichen biodiversity are needed.

lichen; flora; Lastovo

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