Kray, R., Weckesser, M., Dornes, A. P. & Greinwald, K. 2025. New and noteworthy discoveries of lichens and lichenicolous fungi in the Black Forest and adjacent regions – Herzogia 38: 336 –355. Seventy-three taxa are treated, 70 of which are lichens and three are lichenicolous fungi. Verrucaria alutacea and Biatora vacciniicola are new to Germany. The following six taxa are reported as new to Baden-Württemberg: Lepraria humida, Micarea coppinsii, Physcia clementei, Polycoccum microcarpum, Tephromela atra var. torulosa and Vezdaea rheocarpa. Seven species considered extinct in Baden-Württemberg have been rediscovered: Bacidia friesiana, Blastenia ferruginea, Collema glebulentum, Gyalecta derivata, Gyalideopsis piceicola, Mycobilimbia tetramera and Peltula euploca. Current findings are reported for numerous other species that are considered extremely rare or threatened with extinction according to the Red Lists of Germany and Baden-Württemberg. Where considered useful, the ecology, the distribution in the other federal states and characteristics relevant for identification are discussed.
Baumann, M. & Stetzka, K. M. 2025. Investigation of the bryophyte flora of strict forest reserves (Naturwaldzellen) in Saxony – Part 6: Hemmschuh. – Herzogia 38: 208 – 240. The results of a first systematic survey of the bryophytes in the strict forest reserve Naturwaldzelle Hemmschuh (Ore Mountains, Saxony federal state, Germany) are presented. In addition to the strict forest reserve (43.3 ha), a neighboring, managed reference site (200.2 ha) was also investigated. One hundred and three species were identified in the strict forest reserve, 193 in the reference site and 200 in the entire area. Despite a sparsely developed and very species-poor bryophyte layer, the diversity in the studied beech stands is high due to numerous epixylic and epiphytic species. In the species composition of the epiphytes, the high proportions of short-lived species still show the effects of the high depositions of sulphur in the region until the mid-1990s. Numerous endangered species have been detected, particularly remarkable are Antitrichia curtipendula, Calypogeia suecica, Dicranella subulata, Palustriella decipiens, Thamnobryum neckeroides, Ulota coarctata and U. macrospora.
Brackel, W. v. & Wirth, V. 2025. Lichenicolous fungi from the Rhön (Germany). – Herzogia 38: 453 – 463. A review of the Rességuier herbarium (Lichens of the Rhön), supplemented by findings from the Rhön by V. Wirth, resulted in a list of 33 taxa of lichenicolous fungi. Among these, Sclerococcum australe is new to Germany; Endococcus rugulosus, Roselliniopsis tartaricola and Stigmidium eucline are new to Hesse and several species are new to the Rhön. Two undescribed species of the genera Crittendenia and Endococcus are sketched. The nomenclatural story of Bryostigma lapidicola and related misunderstandings are discussed.
Bultmann, C. 2025. Changes in the bryophyte flora of the Hasbruch forest (Lower Saxony, NW Germany). – Herzogia 38: 179 – 207. The development of species richness and species composition of bryophytes in Hasbruch, a 630-hectare, old-growth forest in the northwest of Lower Saxony, was examined 2020 in comparison to 1996, using a resurvey of ten 16-hec-tare plots. It was differentiated between the colonized substrates soil, deadwood, tree bark and rock. The species richness per plot has increased in all substrate groups over the period of 24 years. Strongest increase was recorded for epiphytic bryophytes. The main cause is likely to be the decline in sulfur immissions and the resulting decline in acidification, which has led to the re-expansion of numerous epiphytic bryophytes in recent years. In addition, atmospheric nitrogen inputs cause an increase in nitrophilous bryophytes.
Baumann, M. 2025. Vegetation monitoring in the strict forest reserve (Naturwaldzelle) Wodrich (Ore Mountains): Investigation of the bryophyte flora and change of the bryophyte layer in the period between 1998 and 2014. – Herzogia 38: 105–133. The paper describes the changes in the cover and the species composition of the bryophyte layer in the strict forest reserve Wodrich (Ore Mountains, Saxony, Germany). The reserve represents spruce forest communities on mineral and organic wet sites. The surveys took place on 56 plots of a sample circle grid and can be assigned to three vegetation units. Furthermore, the results of an investigation of the bryophyte flora of the entire area of the strict forest reserve are included. A total of 118 bryophytes were found, with the highest numbers of species found on the forest floor, on dead wood and on anthropogenically strongly influenced sites. In the reserve, the bryophyte layer is dominated by Dicranum scoparium, Polytrichum formosum and Sphagnum girgensohnii, characteristic species of acidophilous spruce forest communities. On the organic wet sites, Bazzania trilobata and Sphagnum russowii also have a high frequency and cover and are joined by characteristic species of spruce bog forests and open bog sites (Mylia anomala, Sphagnum divinum, S. papillosum). In the period between 1998 and 2014, a significant increase in the degree of cover and alpha diversity was observed in all vegetation units. On the one hand, this can be attributed to a decrease in air pollution. On the other hand, the increase in peat moss cover and some characteristic wetland species indicates the start of regeneration.
