A checklist of lichens of Assam, India

Abstract

Lichens not only play a major role in plant succession as pioneer species but also provide many ecosystem services. Various anthropogenic activities like habitat destruction, air pollution and over exploitation of lichens for economic uses seem to be the main threats for loss of lichen diversity. Hence, for in situ conservation of lichens, it is a prioritised need to document lichen species of a locality. Lichens of Assam are being extensively studied from a taxonomic point of view in recent years. An accurate and updated checklist of lichens is not available so far. Here we expand the knowledge of the lichen of Assam by critically surveyed the literatures and prepared an updated list of total 657 species of Assam.