Galapagos survey discovers new species

Tuesday, 29 Jun, 2010

A Galapagos lichen survey conducted on 16 June 2010 by an international scientific team of lichenologists, botanists, professors, graduate students, and naturalists taking part in a lichen workshop at the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) uncovered a bounty of new findings: more than 60 species newly reported from Galapagos, and an estimated ten species new to science.

The one-day field excursion resulted in 400 samples collected on Santa Cruz Island from diverse habitats in various vegetation zones and on an array of substrates. Identifications for half these new specimens have been completed with the remainder requiring further examination.

This workshop demonstrated how much remains to be discovered in Galapagos. In the past four years since CDF began its Galapagos lichen inventory in November 2005, seven new species have been described with many more still awaiting formal publication. As a result, the list of lichen species known from the archipelago has tripled from 200 to now more than 600 species.

"We identified more than 60 new Galapagos species in just one day, some of them scientifically undescribed. It gives us a rather good idea," said lichenologist Dr. Frank Bungartz, workshop coordinator and CDF Head of Natural History Collections and Theme Leader in Biodiversity Assessment, "of how little we know and further inspires us to deepen our understanding of Galapagos biodiversity! To do science objectively," he continues, "to really understand ecosystems and how they function, we can no longer afford to ignore the fungi, lichens, bryophytes and invertebrates that make up the large majority of life on Earth. Biodiversity is more than just the sum of its parts."

Source: Charles Darwin Foundation

 

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