Message - 7th IAL Symposium

The 7 th International Association for Lichenology Symposium 2012
(1A – O13) Submission ID: IAL0065-00001
CONSERVATION OF LICHENS IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION: MODERN STATUS
Muchnik (Moutchnik) E. E. 1
1 Laboratory of Deciduous Forest Ecology, Forest Science Institute of Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia
The redlisting process nearly been accomplished in the regions of the Russian Federation. By now 81
out of 83 regions of the Russian Federation have either published regional Red Data Books or adopted regional
Red lists. The 2 nd edition of the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (2008) contains 42 lichen species (in
comparison with 29 species being included into the 1 st edition of 1988). Significant progress has also been made
in regional lichen conservation measures. Species of lichens are included into Red Data Books of 64 regions
covering over 16 million km 2 (94.6% of the territory of Russia). 21 region have already second editions of their
Red Data Books with several, major revision of species lists prior to publishing. The numbers of protected lichen
species vary from 1 (Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Magadan regions) to 109 in the Republic of Karelia. Total number of
lichen species (subspecies, and varieties) included into the regional Red Data Books is 583 (compared with 378
in 2004), except 85 species demanding “biological monitoring” in the Red Data Book of Murmansk region. Monitoring
of redlisted lichens in several regions can be regarded as another positive trend. However some challenges
still remain. The first one is the low number of lichenologists leading to uneven exploration of the lichen biota
of different regions. Thus, this resulted in the absence of lichens in 19 regional Red lists as well as in rather short
lists for several regions. Conflicts between experts and regional authorities responsible for adoption of the Red
lists are common. The latter tending to minimize species numbers due to limited resources to support monitoring
activities. The same explanation is used when species from Federal Red Data Book are proposed for exclusion
from regional Red lists. Problem causing is a formal attitude of regional administrations towards preserving
the territories of protected areas (except for strict nature reserves and national parks). Rare species inhabiting
regional reserves and nature monuments are usually at higher risk as such protected areas are protected mainly
on paper.
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