Bogotá D. C., ago. 16 de 2012 - Agencia de Noticias UN- For the first time a record was created for foliicolous lichens, living organisms that grow on the surface of leaves. Forty nine new species were recorded for the Province of Chocó and 28 for Colombia.

At the Tutunendo Environmental Station, in the Colombian biogeographical Chocó, UN researchers indentified the composition of these organisms and recorded a total of  113 species, belonging to 31 genera, 13 families and 7 orders.  

“With this information we are adding to the existing information on Chocó lichens and confirm our hypothesis that these organisms, which grow on the surface of leaves, are abundant and scarcely studied”, says professor Jaime Aguirre, Ph.D. in Biology.  

Moreover, as the mosses, lichens are amply distributed and characteristic of very moist tropical areas. Their main function is  partaking in the hydric economy process.  

Lichens and Province of Chocó forests 

The researchers base camp was one of the environmental stations managed by the Pacific Environmental Research Institute (IIAP, for its Spanish acronym). There, biologist Nancy Mateus took samples in order to study and identify them at the UN Natural Sciences Institute.  

The biologist collected, recognized and identified approximately 200 samples. In this manner, she could demonstrate the wealth of vascular flora, mosses, liverleaves and lichens of the Province of Chocó. She also discovered that the most common families were Gomphillaceae, Pilocarpaceae, Arthoniaceae, Porinaceae and Strigulaceae.  

“Certainly, these findings and the notable increase in the amount of species, prompts us to study other areas of Chocó, in order to increase our knowledge about these organisms”, says professor Aguirre.

(Por:Fin/CJCO/clc)

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