Lichens

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has played a central role in the study of lichen biodiversity in the UK and beyond, contributing to its global relevance through important taxonomic outputs.

Today, we help focus conservation action by providing taxonomic clarity on poorly understood species, by documenting biodiversity in poorly-sampled and conservation-priority areas, and we support global lichen conservation through the IUCN's Species Survival Commission. Using barcoding, population genetics, and next-generation sequencing, we discover the diversity and population dynamics of these important fungi and their photosynthetic partners, algae and cyanobacteria.

Current projects using airborne eDNA sampling tests metabarcoding against traditional survey methods at the community level and its ability to capture rare conservation priority species, detectable using more sensitive species specific primers. 

Staff: Rebecca Yahr, Nathan Chrismas

Research Associate: Brian Coppins