Leopoldo G. SanchoComplutense University of Madrid | UCM · Departament of Vegetal Biology II, Fac. Pharmacy
Leopoldo G. Sancho
Professor
About
231
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Introduction
Plant ecophysiology. Lichens in high latitudes. Antarctic ecology. Productivity and diversity in relation to environmental factors. Gas exchange and fluorescence to measure photosynthesis under natural and controlled conditions.
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
January 1992 - present
Publications
Publications (231)
Verrucariaceae (Eurotiomycetes, Ascomycota) is a family of lichen-forming fungi with 43 genera and about 950 species. Interestingly, several lineages within the family have colonised the marine environment, particularly the intertidal and supralittoral zones of the temperate and cold rocky coasts of both hemispheres. Although the systematics of the...
The Valdivian region has a temperate rainy climate with differences in rainfall throughout the year. This heterogeneity results in periods of summer drought that expose the poikilohydric epiphytes to desiccation. With this research, we aim to answer different research questions related to phorophyte preference, response to desiccation, and response...
Background
Incomplete species inventories for Antarctica represent a key challenge for comprehensive ecological research and conservation in the region. Additionally, data required to understand population dynamics, rates of evolution, spatial ranges, functional traits, physiological tolerances and species interactions, all of which are fundamental...
Bryum is a moss genus that is widely distributed across the planet. Many of its species are characterized by large phenotypic and morphological plasticity, generating uncertainty in species identification exclusively based on morphological characteristics. In Antarctica, the extreme and harsh environmental conditions are further likely to promote i...
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...
(1) Background: Lichens, as an important part of the terrestrial ecosystem, attract the attention of various research disciplines. To elucidate their ultrastructure, transmission electron microscopy of resin-embedded samples is indispensable. Since most observations of lichen samples are generated via chemical fixation and processing at room temper...
Aim
Lichens are often regarded as paradigms of mutualistic relationships. However, it is still poorly known how lichen‐forming fungi and their photosynthetic partners interact at a community scale. We explored the structure of fungus‐alga networks of interactions in lichen communities along a latitudinal transect in continental Antarctica. We expec...
The community composition of epiphytic macrolichens from two tree species (Araucaria araucana and Nothofagus antarctica) was conducted in temperate forests in the Conguillío National Park, Chile. The composition of lichen biota is influenced by phorophyte species, bark pH, and microclimatic conditions. A total of 31 species of macrolichens were fou...
This study was focused on lichenicolous fungi from the Antarctic region whose diversity is not yet well known. The sampling was carried out in the maritime Antarctica, South Shetland Islands, Livingston Island, during a trip in 2018. In total, more than one hundred species of lichenicolous fungi were collected, of which a selection has been studied...
Determining the physiological tolerance ranges of species is necessary to comprehend the limits of their responsiveness under strong abiotic pressures. For this purpose, the cosmopolitan moss Ceratodon purpureus (Hedw.) Brid. is a good model due to its wide geographical distribution throughout different biomes and habitats. In order to disentangle...
Nonvascular photoautotrophs (NVP), including bryophytes, lichens, terrestrial algae, and cyanobacteria, are increasingly recognized as being essential to ecosystem functioning in many regions of the world. Current research suggests that climate change may pose a substantial threat to NVP, but the extent to which this will affect the associated ecos...
Antarctica plays a central role in regulating global climatic and oceanographic patterns and is an integral part of global climate change discussions. The functioning of Antarctica's terrestrial ecosystems is dominated by poikilohydric cryptogams such as lichens, bryophytes, eukaryotic algae, and cyanobacteria and there are only two native species...
Purpose
Biocrust communities, which are important regulators of multiple ecosystem functions in drylands, are highly sensitive to climate change. There is growing evidence of the negative impacts of warming on the performance of biocrust constituents like lichens in the field. Here, we aim to understand the physiological basis behind this pattern....
Two strict polar-alpine Umbilicaria species (U. aprina and U. virginis) are reported growing together in Los Peñones de San Francisco. Other localities known on the highest summits of the Alps and Pyrenees are considered. We discussed the meaning of these isolated populations as glacial relicts.
Poikilohydric autotrophs are the main colonizers of the permanent ice-free areas in the Antarctic tundra biome. Global climate warming and the small human footprint in this ecosystem make it especially vulnerable to abrupt changes. Elucidating the effects of climate change on the Antarctic ecosystem is challenging because it mainly comprises poikil...
La Reserva de la Biosfera Cabo de Hornos, Chile, ha sido identificada como un área de alta diversidad de briófitas y se ha sugerido que también lo sea para los líquenes. Sin embargo, en contraste con los extensos estudios de briófitas, sólo se habían realizado inventarios preliminares de líquenes en esta reserva. Realizamos el primer estudio florís...
Lecideoid lichens as dominant vegetation-forming organisms in the climatically harsh areas of the southern part of continental Antarctica show clear preferences in relation to environmental conditions (i.e. macroclimate). 306 lichen samples were included in the study, collected along the Ross Sea coast (78°S–85.5°S) at six climatically different si...
There is considerable scientific interest as to how terrestrial biodiversity in Antarctica might respond, or be expected to respond, to climate change. The two species of vascular plant confined to the Antarctic Peninsula have shown clear gains in density and range extension. However, little information exists for the dominant components of the flo...
Experiments in space and in simulated planetary conditions are needed to support and to prepare future planetary exploration missions to Mars, Enceladus, Europa and/or Titan. As part of several ESA space missions, samples of extremophile lichens have been exposed to extraterrestrial conditions, i.e. space-and Mars like parameters, during short (FOT...
Antarctic lichens (Usnea) near Carlini station on King George Island, January 2016 (Elisa Lagostina).
The extremophile lichen Circinaria gyrosa (C. gyrosa) is one of the selected species within the BIOMEX (Biology and Mars Experiment) experiment. Here we present the Raman study of a biohint found in this lichen, called whewellite (calcium oxalate monohydrate), and other organic compounds and mineral products of the biological activity of the astrob...
Aim
The homogenisation of historically isolated gene pools has been recognised as one of the most serious conservation problems in the Antarctic. Lichens are the dominant components of terrestrial biotas in the Antarctic and in high mountain ranges of southern South America. We study the effects of dispersal strategy and migration history on their...
The Soil Crust International (SCIN) project was a multidisciplinary attempt to obtain a complete understanding of biocrusts communities across Europe, including among the monitored locations the Tabernas badlands in Spain, the driest habitat in the whole continent. Here we provide an overview in a Mini-Review format of our research about the functi...
Amongst extremophiles on Earth, lichens are one of the most resistant forms of life to harsh terrestrial environments, as well as some bacteria, cyanobacteria, cryptoendolithic communities, and lithic fungi. Many lichens species are well known as survivors under the most stressful environments, capable of coping with harsh climatic conditions, incl...
This study proposes a bioclimatic characterization and a new biogeographic division for the Antarctic territories up to the province level following the criteria and models of Rivas-Martínez et al. The Antarctic Kingdom comprises the continent of Antarctica, the surrounding ice-covered Antarctic islands, and the associated cold oceanic islands and...
There are very few long-term studies on Antarctic vegetation available, and very little is known of plant community changes over time in the Antarctic Peninsula area, an area itself subject to considerable change in recent decades. The vegetation of the South Bay area near the Spanish Station Juan Carlos I on Livingston island (South Shetland Islan...
Himantormia lugubris is an Antarctic endemic with a distribution restricted to the northwest tip of Antarctic Peninsula, adjacent islands and South Georgia Island. In this region H. lugubris is an important component of the epilithic lichen community. The species has a fruticose thallus with usually simple and flattened branches whose grey surface...
Aims
Gunnera tinctoria is an unusual N-fixing plant species that has become invasive worldwide, generally in environments with a low evaporative demand and/or high rainfall. Amongst the many mechanisms that may explain its success as an introduced species, a contrasting phenology could be important but this may depend on an ability to grow and util...
Significance
Changes in the extent of ice sheets through evolutionary timescales have influenced the connectivity of soil invertebrate populations across the Antarctic landscape. We use genetic divergences to estimate isolation times for soil invertebrates along the Transantarctic Mountains. Four species of Collembola (Arthropoda) each showed genet...
Antarctica has been witnessing continued growth of tourism, both in the overall visitation and in the diversity of itineraries and visitor activities. Expanding tourism presents unique business and educational opportunities, but it is also putting immense pressure on Antarctica's natural, and for the most parts, pristine environment. Understanding...
As part of the Biology and Mars Experiment (BIOMEX; ILSRA 2009-0834), samples of the lichen Circinaria gyrosa were placed on the exposure platform EXPOSE-R2, on the International Space Station (ISS) and exposed to space and to a Mars-simulated environment for 18 months (2014-2016) to study: (1) resistance to space and Mars-like conditions and (2) b...
As part of the Biology and Mars Experiment (BIOMEX; ILSRA 2009-0834), samples of the lichen Circinaria gyrosa were placed on the exposure platform EXPOSE-R2, on the International Space Station (ISS) and exposed to space and to a Mars-simulated environment for 18 months (2014–2016) to study: (1) resistance to space and Mars-like conditions and (2) b...
Antarctica is the coldest, driest, highest and windiest continent; the lichens and mosses grow where it is more warm, wet, low and protected. Overall productivity is strongly influenced by the length of period when water is available and the plants become, therefore, increasingly confined to areas of exceptionally good microclimate. It is this stro...
Chronosequences at the forefront of retreating glaciers provide information about colonization rates of bare surfaces. In the northern hemisphere, forest development can take centuries, with rates often limited by low nutrient availability. By contrast, in front of the retreating Pia Glacier (Tierra del Fuego, Chile), a Nothofagus forest is in plac...
The Tröllaskagi Peninsula in northern Iceland hosts more than a hundred small glaciers that have left a rich terrestrial record of Holocene climatic fluctuations in their forelands. Traditionally, it has been assumed that most of the Tröllaskagi glaciers reached their Late Holocene maximum extent during the Little Ice Age (LIA). However, there is e...
Lichens have been used as biomonitors for multiple purposes. They are well-known as air pollution indicators around urban and industrial centers. More recently, several attempts have been made to use lichens as monitors of climate change especially in alpine and polar regions. In this paper, we review the value of saxicolous lichens for monitoring...
Exploration of the solar system, needs science and technology support to work at a merged way. Space platforms, such as EXPOSE, are a priority for the performance of experiments which are focused on the exploration of the limits of terrestrial life, trying to get responses to some questions, such as the 1) survival capacity of biological organisms...
Background and aimsDue to the well-known importance of biocrusts for several ecosystem properties linked to soil functionality, we aim to go deeper into the physiological performance of biocrusts components. Possible functional convergences in the physiology of biocrust constituents would facilitate the understanding of both species and genus distr...
Lichenometry, first proposed at the beginning of the XXth century, is a technique that uses growth rates of saxicolous crustose lichens to date exposed surfaces over an age range of 500 years from present. Despite of the wide use of the methodology, it has been strongly criticized by several authors who consider that biological aspects involved in...
Exploration of the solar system is a priority research area of the AstRoMap European Astrobiology Roadmap (Horneck et al., 2015) [1], focused on various research topics, one of them is “Life and Habitability” and an other one is “Biomarkers for easy the detection of life”. Therefore “space platforms and laboratories” are necessary, such as EXPOSE,...
The knowledge of the eruptive history of volcanic centers allows for improving the evaluation of the related risks and hazards in populated areas, but substantially depends on the ability of dating the lava flows. However, traditional methods such as U-Th/He, ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar, ⁴⁰K-⁴⁰Ar and radiocarbon dating are not always suitable. Therefore, an alternat...
Lichens are one of the common dominant biota in biological soil crusts (biocrusts), a community that is one of the largest in extent in the world. Here we present a summary of the main features of the lifestyle of soil crust lichens, emphasizing their habitat, ecophysiology and versatility. The soil crust is exposed to full light, often to high tem...
Ana Crespo: a 70th birthday tribute - Volume 50 Issue 3 - Pradeep K. DIVAKAR, Eva BARRENO, Leopoldo SANCHO, H. Thorsten LUMBSCH
Lichens are extremely resistant organisms that colonize harsh climatic areas, some of them defined as “Mars-analog sites.” There still remain many unsolved questions as to how lichens survive under such extreme conditions. Several studies have been performed to test the resistance of various lichen species under space and in simulated Mars-like con...
The Antarctic Peninsula has had a globally large increase in mean annual temperature from the 1951 to 1998 followed by a decline that still continues. The challenge is now to unveil whether these recent, complex and somewhat unexpected climatic changes are biologically relevant. We were able to do this by determining the growth of six lichen specie...
Biological soil crusts (BSC) perform several important environmental functions such as soil erosion prevention, soil nutrient enrichment through photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation, and are receiving growing interest due to their importance in some changing habitats with soils under degradation risk. Primary producers within BSC (cyanobacteria, li...
The majority of plant species are glycophytes and are not salt-tolerant and maintain low sodium levels within their tissues; if. high tissue sodium concentrations do occur, it is in response to elevated environmental salt levels. Here we report an apparently novel and taxonomically diverse grouping of plants that continuously maintain high tissue s...
Following the retreat of a glacier, microbial colonization paves the way for future plant successions as nutrients are gradually introduced into the ecosystem. Characterizing the dynamics of this initial microbial colonization process is a key to understanding how these rapidly receding glacier areas are colonized. This study examines primary succe...
Within Antarctica there are large gradients both in climate and in vegetation which offer opportunities to investigate links between the two. The activity (% total time active) of lichens and bryophytes in hydric and xeric environments was monitored at Livingston Island (62°39'S). This adds a northern site with a maritime, cloudy climate to previou...
Maritime Antarctic hosts well developed dense cryptogamic covers integrated by several bryophyte and lichen species growing in combination with the only two autochthonous vascular plants Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis. These mosaic communities generate different microsites which relative coverage (i.e. in terms of species dominanc...
Photosynthetic performance in lichens can vary throughout the year. We investigate the variation in the PSII quantum efficiency as a proxy for the physiological state of the photosynthetic apparatus in two umbilicate species from the genus Lasallia . Temporal variation in Fv / Fm in both species was monitored at a field site in Central Spain where...
Lichens are extremophile organisms, they live in the most extreme conditions, colonizing areas with extreme temperatures, high aridity condition and high UV-radiation. Therefore they have been by far the most successful settlers of the Antarctic continent. Also in the laboratory they survive temperatures near the absolute cero and absolute dryness...
A previously established chronosequence from Pia Glacier forefield in Tierra del Fuego (Chile) containing soils of different ages (from bare soils to forest ones) is analyzed. We used this chronosequence as framework to postulate that microbial successional development would be accompanied by changes in functionality. To test this, the GeoChip func...
Variation in climactic vegetation with altitude is widely used as an ecological indicator to identify bioclimatic belts. Tierra del Fuego is known to undergo structural and functional changes in forests along altitudinal gradients. However there is still little knowledge of the changes in plant-community composition and plant diversity –including b...
Diatraea lineolata and Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) are moths with stemboring larvae that feed and develop on economically important grasses. This study investigated whether these moths have diverged from a native host plant, corn, onto introduced crop plants including sorghum, sugarcane, and rice. Diatraea larvae were collected fr...
Lichen-forming fungi interact with their photobionts showing different patterns, from highly specialized
species to others that are able to interact with different photobiont lineages over their ranges.
Most studies have so far focused on the range of photobionts interacting with a single species or with
few species from the same community, genus o...
The factors that control lichen distribution in Antarctica are still not well understood, and in this investigation we focused on the distribution, local and continental, and gas exchange of a species pair, closely related lichens with differing reproductive strategies, Usnea aurantiaco-atra (fertile) and Usnea antarctica (sterile, sorediate). The...
The importance of biocrusts in the ecology of arid lands across all continents is widely recognized. In spite of this broad distribution, contributions of biocrusts to the global biogeochemical cycles have only recently been considered. While these studies opened a new view on the global role of biocrusts, they also clearly revealed the lack of dat...
A wide range of studies show global environmental change will profoundly affect the structure, function, and dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems. The research synthesized here underscores that biocrust communities are also likely to respond significantly to global change drivers, with a large potential for modification to their abundance, compositio...
As part of a comprehensive revision of the
Rhizocarpon geographicum
species group using molecular and morphological approaches, we examined the name-bearing types of 15 species. We report ambiguities and inconsistencies with the reported features of some type specimens, original descriptions, and circumscriptions employed in keys for the identifica...
A new species, Sirenophila ovis-atra is described from maritime rocks of southern Patagonia, the Falkland Islands and Macquarie Island, where it grows in the upper part of the black ‘Verrucaria-zone’, most often on members of the genus Hydropunctaria. It is so far the only known species of Sirenophila in South America, a genus that is particularly...
Scientific research in Antarctica has reached maturity in recent decades. The interest in issues related to knowledge about the southern polar regions has increased significantly among researchers from all scientific and technological disciplines. Among the various fields, biology comprises perhaps the highest concentration of related activities an...
Lichens are the dominant organisms in terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems and show a decline in species number, coverage, and growth rate from the maritime Antarctic (62°S) to the McMurdo Dry Valleys (78°S). While Livingston Island (maritime Antarctica) is a hot spot for lichen biodiversity, the McMurdo Dry Valleys (continental Antarctica) are known a...
The new genus and species Bicoloromyces kyffinensis is described as new to science from a sterile crustose lichen, perhaps Lecanora fuscobrunnea or Lecidella sp. from Ebony Ridge of Mount Kyffin, Antarctica. The fungus recalls superficially the lichenicolous species referred to Taeniolella, but differs in having semi-macronematous conidiophores, ti...