Floristic Similarities between the Lichen Flora of Both Sides of the Drake Passage: A Biogeographical Approach

• Published in: Journal of Fungi
• Main Authors: Leopoldo G. Sancho, Ana Aramburu, Javier Etayo, Núria Beltrán-Sanz
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2023
• Subjects: Antarctica; biogeography; lichens; Navarino Island; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Austral; Cape Horn; Drake Passage; South Shetland Islands; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Tierra del Fuego
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/jof10010009; https://doaj.org/article/46b0b9f5cb424ac381f7308c7616caa0

This paper analyses the lichen flora of Navarino Island (Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn Region, Chile), identifying species shared with the South Shetland Islands (Antarctic Peninsula). In this common flora, species are grouped by their biogeographic origin (Antarctic–subantarctic endemic, austral, bipolar, and cosmopolitan), their habitat on Navarino Island (coastal, forest, and alpine), their morphotype (crustaceous, foliaceous, fruticulose, and cladonioid), and the substrate from which they were collected (epiphytic, terricolous and humicolous, and saxicolous). A total of 124 species have been recognised as common on both sides of the Drake Passage, predominantly bipolar, crustaceous, and saxicolous species, and with an alpine distribution on Navarino Island. The most interesting fact is that more than 30% of the flora is shared between the southern tip of South America and the western Antarctic Peninsula, which is an indication of the existence of a meridian flow of propagules capable of crossing the Antarctic polar front.