Diversity of lichens in the paramos of El Batallón and La Negra, General Juan Pablo Peñaloza National Park

Abstract

Increasing temperatures and changing land-use in the Venezuelan Andes result in an accelerated decline of sensitive lichen populations. Monitoring of these populations by biological plot inventories in particularly vulnerable sites is urgently needed. In order to know the diversity and distribution of lichen species occurring in the paramos El Batallon and La Negra, General Juan Pablo Penaloza National Park, in the Venezuelan Andes, we carried out various collections along an altitudinal gradient including montane forest (2100–3000 m) and paramo vegetation (3200–3650 m). The results showed a total of 104 species and 40 genera, 44 species from the montane forest, 82 species from the paramo, six new records for Venezuela, and 31 new records for the southwest of the Venezuelan Andes (Tachira State). A checklist with taxonomic, morphological and ecological data is provided for the most relevant species. Bunodophoron portachuelense V. Marcano & L. Castillo (Sphaeorophoraceae) is described from the paramo. Increasing forestry exploitation, livestock and cultivation during decades from the montane forest would explain the highest diversity found in the paramo.