Monographs in North American Lichenology

A new series sponsored by NW Lichenologists

Northwest Lichenologists aim to produce a series of reasonably-priced, peer-reviewed, paperback academic books on lichens, with a focus on topics of regional interest, such as generic monographs, annotated state lists, ecological works, local floras, and symposium proceedings. Our purpose is to provide an outlet for very long papers and books of wide interest but that are too long for regular scientific journals. Volumes will be produced sporadically. We expect 0-2 volumes per year. Works on any aspect of lichenology will be considered.	Instructions for Authors Download pdf Download Word doc
	Vol. 1: McCune, B. and R. Rosentreter. 2007. Biotic Soil Crust Lichens of the Columbia Basin. Monographs in North American Lichenology 1: 1-105. Pbk. $30. Fully illustrated in color. [See sample pages.] ISBN-10: 0-9790737-0-7. ISBN-13: 978-0-9790737-0-0   ORDER FORM AS PDF ORDER FORM Why write a book for identifying soil crust lichens? We have three reasons: (1) they are ecologically important, (2) they can be difficult to identify with existing sources, or they are omitted altogether, and (3) they should be more widely recognized for what they are. Macrolichens are much better known in North America than crustose lichens, but most of the lichens found in biotic crusts are crustose lichens. Keys and line drawings for macrolichens from the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains are provided by Goward et al (1994), McCune and Goward (1995), and Goward (1999). Brodo et al. (2001) and McCune and Geiser (1997) provided color photos for selected species. Despite these resources, almost none of the lichen species growing in biotic crusts in the Pacific Northwest have been illustrated with color photos in sufficient magnification and detail for confident identification. We hope that this book will help to relieve that problem. Lichens in soil crusts are often difficult to identify. Currently available books for identifying lichens do not illustrate the critical features needed for identification. We try to fill this need by providing photographs of all of the species at the necessary scale – ranging from what you can see with a hand lens to what you can see through a compound microscope. Wherever possible, we emphasize macroscopic features, but in many cases microscopic characters make the task much easier and help to confirm the identification. This book is aimed at both technical and naturalist audiences. We hope that the use of color photographs will help someone without much experience, while we strive to provide the technical details needed for more certain identification.

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