From Cinderella to Princess: an exceptional hotspot of lichen diversity in a long-inhabited central-European landscape

Biodiversity is a key criterion in nature protection and often indicates habitats and localities rich in endangered species. Our research, using 48 one-man one-day field trips, located an exceptional lichen diversity hotspot and refugium for rare species, the Tyrov National Nature Reserve (Czech Republic, central Bohemia). Within its 410 hectares, we detected 787 species of lichens and related taxa (675 lichens, 35 semilichens, 58 lichenicolous fungi and 19 bark microfungi). This is more species of these organisms than has ever been recorded from such a small area, up to 10 km(2), anywhere in Europe (and probably anywhere in the world). The species richness is positively correlated with the habitat heterogeneity within Tyrov, which is very far from uniform. In most of the reserve, the species richness is fairly typical for the broader region, and only three sites, with an overall area of a mere 80 hectares, have distinctly higher species richnesses. The most species-rich site, with 502 species, is only about 25 hectares and is distinctly more diverse in habitats than other sites. The enormous importance of Tyrov for biodiversity protection is emphasized by the nine species described as new to science: Acarospora fissa, Bacidia hyalina, Buellia microcarpa, Micarea substipitata, Microcalicium minutum, Rufoplaca griseomarginata, Verrucaria substerilis, V. tenuispora and V. teyrzowensis. Three species are new to Europe, 55 to the Czech Republic and 191 species are included in the national Red-list.