Lichen Colonization on Unusual Man-Made Substratum in Western Himalaya

The lichens along with their natural substratum colonize a variety of man-made substratum. After about half a century of lichenological research in India, there has been no record of lichen colonization on the man-made artificial substratum. The authors here for the first time report colonization of five species of lichens on three samples from two unusual habitats—iron railway sleepers— Heterodermia galactophylla (Tuck.) W.L. Culb. and abandoned woolen socks— Xanthoparmelia bellatula (Kurok. & Filson) Elix & J. Johnst., Physcia gomukhensis D.D. Awasthi & S.R. Singh, Xanthoparmelia congensis (J. Steiner) Hale and Xanthoria candelaria (L.) Th. Fr. in western Himalaya. Two supplementary tables (S1 and S2) are provided, giving details of collection sites and lichen species identified in each sample. The study revealed the extended geographical distribution of the two lichen species, i.e., Heterodermia galactophylla (Tuck.) W.L. Culb and Physcia gomukhensis D.D. Awasthi & S.R. Singh, highlighting the importance of such studies of unusual habitats in lichen diversity and preparation of their inventories.