Roman Türk, Ian D. Hogg, Erin R. Cox, Leopoldo G. Sancho, Scott N. Williamson, Bryan Vandenbrink, T. G. Allan Green
Evansia 41 (4), 87-112, (30 December 2024) https://doi.org/10.1639/0747-9859-41.4.87
KEYWORDS: Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA), Species similarity, landscape age, lichen, substrata, Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS)
There are few detailed surveys of lichens in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) and only one from Victoria Island, which previously recorded 108 species. We surveyed a further 31 sites near Cambridge Bay and another eight sites from the Wellington Inlier, an area of Precambrian Era rocks, about 70 km to the northwest of Cambridge Bay. Based on these surveys and existing records, a total of 237 species are now reported that include 186 from our sampling sites and another 51 from various previous collections. Thirty-five species were previously unreported from the Archipelago. The 39 surveyed sites surveyed were from six geographic locations and 40% of 237 the lichen species occurred at only one location. Only three species occurred at all six locations. To date, no endemic species have been recorded for Victoria Island and only one is known for the CAA; likely a consequence of the recently deglaciated landscape (ca. 5000 years).