The taxonomic study of foliicolous lichenized fungi in Chu Yang Sin national park of Vietnam

I would like to dedicate this thesis to my beloved parents and my sisters for their unconditional love and support in every way possible throughout the process of this course, this thesis and beyond. A thesis for Degree of Master of Science The taxonomic study of foliicolous lichenized fungi in Chu Yang Sin national park of Vietnam Thi Thuy Nguyen Department of Environmental Education & Science Graduate School Sunchon National University June, 2011 The taxonomic study of foliicolous lichenized fungi in Chu Yang Sin national park of Vietnam Supervisor: Prof. Jae-Seoun Hur Co-supervisor: Dr. Yogesh Joshi Presented as a thesis for The Degree of The Master of Science Thi Thuy Nguyen Department of Environmental Education & Science The Graduate School Sunchon National University June, 2011 LIST OF CONTENTS I. Introduction ................................................................................... 1 II. Review of literatures .................................................................... 4 1. Foliicolous lichens studies in Vietnam ................................. 4 2. Chu Yang Sin national park .................................................. 4 III. Materials and methods ................................................................ 8 IV. Taxonomy ................................................................................... 9 1. Key to foliicolous lichen genera in Chu Yang Sin nation park ................................................................................................ 9 2. Brief description of genera and their respective species reported from Chu Yang Sin National Park ........................ 10 1) Arthonia ........................................................................ 10 Arthonia cyanea var. cyanea ................................... 10 2) Bacidina ........................................................................ 12 Bacidina apiahica ................................................... 12 3) Byssoloma ..................................................................... 14 Byssoloma chlorinum .............................................. 15 Byssoloma subdiscordans var. subdiscordans ........ 16 Byssoloma vanderystii ............................................. 17 4) Calopadia ...................................................................... 19 Calopadia puiggarii ................................................ 20 Calopadia subcoerulescens ..................................... 21 5) Chroodiscus .................................................................. 23 Chroodiscus mirificus ............................................. 24 6) Coenogonium ................................................................ 25 Coenogonium dilucidum ......................................... 26 Coenogonium disciforme ......................................... 27 7) Echinoplaca .................................................................. 29 Echinoplaca epiphylla ............................................. 30 Echinoplaca pellicula .............................................. 31 Echinoplaca tetrapla ............................................... 32 8) Fellhanera ..................................................................... 34 Fellhanera bouteillei ............................................... 35 Fellhanera emarginata ............................................ 36 Fellhanera rhapidophylli ........................................ 37 Fellhanera sublecanorina ....................................... 38 9) Mazosia ......................................................................... 40 Mazosia dispersa ..................................................... 41 Mazosia phyllosema ................................................. 42 10) Porina ........................................................................... 44 Porina alba .............................................................. 45 Porina atriceps ......................................................... 46 Porina conica ........................................................... 47 Porina nitidula ........................................................ 48 Porina rubentior ...................................................... 50 11) Sporopodium ................................................................. 51 Sporopodium phyllocharis ...................................... 52 Sporopodium xantholeucum .................................... 53 12) Strigula .......................................................................... 55 Strigula nitidula ....................................................... 56 13) Tricharia ....................................................................... 57 Tricharia vainioi ..................................................... 58 V. Conclusion ................................................................................. 60 VI. Acknowledgement .................................................................... 62 VII. References ............................................................................... 63 VIII. Publications ............................................................................ 65 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Fig. 1. Location of Chu Yang Sin national park in Vietnam ............ 6 Fig. 2. Map of Chu Yang Sin national park ..................................... 7 Fig. 3. Habit and ascospores of Arthonia cyanea var. cyanea f. cyanea ...................................................................................... 11 Fig. 4. Habit and ascospores of Bacidina apiahica ........................ 13 Fig. 5. Habit and ascospores of foliicolous species of Byssoloma .. 18 Fig. 6. Habit and ascospores of foliicolous species of Calopadia ... 22 Fig. 7. Habit and ascospores of Chroodiscus argillaceus .............. 23 Fig. 8. Habit and ascospores of foliicolous species of Coenogonium .. ...................................................................................................28 Fig. 9. Habit and ascospores of foliicolous species of Echinoplaca 33 Fig. 10. Habit and ascospores of foliicolous species of Fellhanera 39 Fig. 11. Habit and ascospores of foliicolous species of Mazosia ... 43 Fig. 12. Habit and ascospores of foliicolous species of Porina ...... 49 Fig. 13. Habit and ascospores of species of Porina rubentior......... 50 Fig. 14. Habit and ascospores of foliicolous species of Sporopodium .................................................................................................. 54 Fig. 15. Habit and ascospores of species of Strigula nitidula ........ 55 Fig. 16. Habit and ascospores of species of Tricharia vainioi ....... 57 Table 1. The list of orders, families, genera and species in Chu Yang Sin national park ...................................................................... 61 Abstract The taxonomic study of foliicolous lichenized fungi in Chu Yang Sin national park of Vietnam Thi Thuy Nguyen Department of Environmental Education & Science The Graduate School Sunchon National University Supervisor: Prof. Jae-Seoun Hur Co-supervisor: Dr. Yogesh Joshi Foliicolous lichens which known abundant in tropical regions. While the foliicolous lichen flora was discovered well in many regions in the world but there were no many publications deal with the foliicolous lichens from Vietnam. Twenty eight species belonging to thirteen genera was recognized from 415 specimens collected from Chu Yang Sin – a national park located at the Central Highland of Vietnam. Among them, Byssoloma vanderystii Sérus., Coenogonium disciforme Papong et al. and Fellhanera emarginata Lücking. were first time reported from Vietnam. The first fertile specimens of Coenogonium disciforme Papong et al. was observed and described in detailed. The key to the genera and key to species of the genera are given. Each species was described in diagnostic characters, chemistry and distribution. Key words: Taxonomy, foliicolous lichenized fungi, Vietnam, Chu Yang Sin national park 1 I. INTRODUCTION Foliicolous lichens are lichens that grow on the living leaves of angiosperms, fern fonds, phyllodes, phylloclades and young bamboo culms. Generally they occur on the leaves that shed off in 2- 5 years or stayed longer (e.g. Agave and palm leaves), except few taxa which were found to grow on annually deciduous leaves. Majority of the foliicolous lichens were found on the upper side of the leaves i.e. epiphyllous, but few also grow on the lower side i.e. hypophyllous. Foliicolous lichens generally prefer growing over leaves of lower branches which not only enjoyed the partial shade of the over growing branches but also had a more humid environment than others. Based on their substrate specificity, they can be divided into three groups: 1) Eufoliicolous lichens: they grow and reproduce entirely on the leaves and have a crustose thallus that is tightly adnate to the substrate. 2) Facultative foliicolous lichens: they usually grow on barks, petioles and twigs but exceptionally on leaves. 3) Pseudofoliicolous (indifferent or ubiquitous) lichens: besides growing on leaves they can grow on different substrates, such as rock, bark, soil etc. The diversity and density of foliicolous lichens is abundant in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, due to availability of optimum temperature, humidy, sunlight and shade throughout the year. Besides tropical rainforests, they are also reported from subtropical and temperate rainforests having humid areas, but the diversity and density in the subtropical and temperate regions is less in comparison to tropical regions because of lack of suitable macro- and micro- climatic conditions responsible for the luxuriance growth of these lichens. 2 These lichens are one of the most abundant epiphytes in tropical rain forests, henceforth the highest diversity of foliicolous lichens is found in tropical regions, especially the primary tropical rainforests which are not affected by anthropogenic disturbance. More than 800 foliicolous lichen taxa are known from the world. However, most of the publications mentioning about foliicolous lichens have came from Neotropics, Valdivian and African Paleotropic regions, but very few studies were carried out in the Eastern Paleotropics. Socialist Republic of Vietnam – a country situated in South East Asia – with high temperature, high average annual rainfall and large area of primary tropical rain forests is suitable for the colonization of tropical lichens, especially foliicolous lichens. The lichen flora of Vietnam is not well worked out and most of the work on Vietnamese lichens was done by foreigners during their trip to Vietnam. Krempelhuber (1873) was the first person to report lichens from Vietnam, followed by Müller (1891), Harmand (1928), Abbayes (1964) and Tixier (1966). However, Vĕzda (1977) was the first person to cite foliicolous lichens from Vietnam, while making a review on previous publications dealing with lichens of Vietnam. Aptroot & Sparrius (2006) made a first checklist of lichen flora of Vietnam and included 32 foliicolous lichen species within it. Later on, Papong et al. (2007) increased the tally of foliicolous lichens to 70. Nguyen et al. (2009, 2010) during her studies on foliicolous lichen flora of Vietnam, reported 14 additional species which were new to Vietnam lichen flora and raises the tally of foliicolous lichens to 84. Nguyen et al. (2010) for the first time also reported fertile specimen of Coenogonium disciforme Papong, Boonpr. & Lücking from Chu Yang Sin national park of Vietnam. Previously only fertile specimen of this species was known from Thailand (Papong et al. 2007). Since, there were no expert focusing on this group of lichen in 3 Vietnam, and also number of publications and numbers of species recorded from this place were very few, this idea led the author to work on foliicolous lichen flora of Vietnam. As far as Vietnam is concerned, it is a very big country located in the Asian wet tropics with long beach and two large deltas having high annual rainfall making conditions favorable for the growth foliicolous lichens, henceforth it is bit difficult for the author to explore entire country within 2 years of time for her Master’s thesis, that’s why she has focused her study on foliicolous lichen diversity of Chu Yang Sin national park from where she reported 28 species belonging to 13 genera of which 6 were new to Vietnamese lichen flora. Key to the genera and species are provided along with brief description of all the species reported from this national park. 4 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURES 1. Foliicolous lichen studies in Vietnam In Vietnam, the lichen flora is not discovered well. Some records were mentioned in some publication of lichens by some authors in the world. The first species reported of lichens in Vietnam was in 1873 by Krempelhuber (Krembelhubner, 1873). Following by Müller (1891), Harmand (1928), Abbayes (1964) and Tixier (1966), many others species growing on other substrates were reported. Until 1977, Vĕzda made a review on the previous publication dealt with lichens flora of Vietnam and cited only foliicolous lichens. In his paper, Vĕzda reported 44 species, increasing the total number of foliicolous lichens from Vietnam to 63 species in that time. In 2006, Aptroot & Sparrius (Aptroot & Sparrius, 2006) made a checklist of lichen flora of Vietnam including 32 foliicolous lichen species. In 2007, Papong et al. (Papong et al., 2007) counted number of total foliicolous lichens species of Vietnam was 70 species. Until 2010, Nguyen et al. reported 6 new records of foliicolous lichens in Vietnam, increase the total species of foliicolous lichen to 76 species. 2. Chu Yang Sin national park Vietnam, a country located in the Asian wet tropics with long beach and two large deltas has high annual rainfall that is predictable of the presence of very high diversity of foliicolous lichens. Central Highlands or Western Highlands is a highland located in the central part of Vietnam, including five provinces (Daklak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Lam Dong provinces). It lays on a series of contiguous plateaus namely Kon Tum, Mdrak, Daklak, Mo Nong, Lam Vien and Di Linh plateaus that are surrounded by the high mountain ranges called Truong Son. Chu Yang Sin national park which is located in Krong Bong and Lak Districts of Daklak Province has forests of enormous 5 significance for biodiversity, conservation and protection. Having an area of 58,947 ha, this is the largest protected area on the Da Lat Plateau. The park was first designated as a nature reserve in early 1986 and then later upgraded to national park in 2005. Chu Yang Sin is a system of mountains running from Eastern North to Western South, and includes Chu Ba Nak Mountain (1,858 m high), Chu Hae’le Mountain (1.204 m), Chu Pan Phan Mountain (1.185 m), Chu Drung Yang Mountain (1,812 m), Chu Yang Sieng Mountain (1,128 m), Yang Kling Mountain (1,271 m), Chu Yang Saone Mountain (1,176 m), Chu Hrang Kreou Mountain (1.071) and Chu Yang Sin Mountain (2,105 m). There are many small and narrow valleys but also some flat valleys lying along streams. The elevation of the park lies between 450 – 2,405 m. The broadleaved evergreen forest is the dominant vegetation type in the park with an area of more than 30,000 ha. Lowland semi- evergreen forests which are characterized by dominance of Lagerstroemia calyculata and Terminalia nigrovenulosa and lowland evergreen forests characterized by dominance of Hopea odorata, Dipterocarpus alatus, Dipterocarpus turbinatus are distributed below 900 m. At elevation above 900 m, submontane and montane evergreen forests dominated by members of Fagaceae and Lauraceae are widely distributed. Montane evergreen forests in this region are characterized mainly by the presence of gymnosperms, such as Pinus spp., Podocarpus imbricatus and Fokienia hodginsii. On the ridge line, elfin forest formations dominated by Lyonia annamensis, Lyonia ovalifolia and the dwarf bamboo Arundinaria sp. are distributed. Besides this, 65 mammal species are recorded in this park, of which 12 species are considered globally endangered. 250 bird species have been confirmed, including 15 threatened and endemic species. The park also supports impressive richness of reptiles and 6 amphibians with 112 species discovered. Although the fish diversity is poorly understood, but 81 fish species have been recorded so far. FIG. 1. Location of Chu Yang Sin National Park in Vietnam. However, until now, no significant study regarding occurrence of lichens with in this national park was made by any worker. Therefore, it is the prime time that lichens, especially foliicolous lichens, from this national park should be documented and utilized for the development of a sustainable forest management program. 7 FIG. 2. Map of Chu Yang Sin national park and the locate of the collection (
) This study deals with the identification of foliicolous lichens collected from Chu Yang Sin national park – a national park located in Central Highlands of Vietnam. Totally 415 specimens was checked, 28 species belonging to 13 genera was identified. Key to genera and keys for species of each genus which has more than one species that found in this park was provided. Each species was also described in detailed. 8 III. MATERIALS AND METHODS Approximately 500 leaf samples bearing various foliicolous lichen species were collected and examined. Sampling for foliicolous lichens was performed following the methods outlined by Lücking & Lücking (1996). The specimens were collected from Chu Yang Sin national park in the month of February and July, 2010. Because of biodiversity act and security reasons, the collections were only permitted to carry out in a small area of this national park (unit 1180). The leaves bearing foliicolous lichens were cut or plugged out and then pressed and air dried. Specimens are deposited in the Korean Lichen Research Herbarium (KoLRI) of Sunchon National University (SNU). Identification of the foliicolous lichen specimens was based on examination of morphological and anatomical features. Morphology of thallus, vegetative structures, ascomata and conidiomata were examined under Nikon SMZ 645 stereomicroscope. Hand cut sections for studying anatomical characters were examined under a Nikon Eclipse E200 microscope. Beside morphological and anatomical structures, the color reactions of different parts were tested by the methods described by Yoshimura (1974): K (10% aqueous KOH solution), I (Lugol’s solution), KI (10% KOH followed by Lugol’s solution). Microcrystallography and thin layer chromatography (Culberson 1972) was also carried out to identify the chemical compounds met within the species that needs those tests for identification. 9 IV. TAXONOMY 1. Key to foliicolous lichen genera in Chu Yang Sin national park 1) Ascomata perithecia .............................................................................. 2 Ascomata apothecia .............................................................................. 3 2) Asci functionally unitunicate, entirely thin-walled ...................... Porina Asci functionally bitunicate, apically thick-walled ..................... Strigula 3) Apothecia immersed-erumpent or spot-like ................