Richard Troy McMullin

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• PhD
• Research Scientist at Canadian Museum of Nature / Musée canadien de la nature

Alectoria is a genus of fruticose lichen characterised by the presence of usnic acid and conspicuous raised pseudocyphellae. This genus is particularly diverse and abundant in montane, boreal, and Arctic regions of North America. Because intermediate forms have been reported for several species of Alectoria on the continent, it has been suggested t...

Background Comprehensive biotic surveys, or ‘all taxon biodiversity inventories’ (ATBI), have traditionally been limited in scale or scope due to the complications surrounding specimen sorting and species identification. To circumvent these issues, several ATBI projects have successfully integrated DNA barcoding into their identification procedures...

At last, a light and easy-to-use field guide to the rich lichen flora of Northeastern North America. The authors have designed this user-friendly guide for amateur naturalists, nature interpreters, forestry workers, land surveyors, researchers, and the general public. Meant to fit in a pocket or backpack, it requires no previous botanical experienc...

Lichens are an important component of the boreal forest, where they are long lived, tend to accumulate in older stands, and are a major food source for the threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). To be fully sustainable, silvicultural practices in the boreal forest must include the conservation of ecological integrity. Dominant for...

The relationships between the structural complexity of coniferous forests and the epiphytic lichen com- munities that inhabit them were examined in 51 conifer-dominated stands in southwestern Nova Scotia. One hundred and fifteen lichen species were studied in stands in the age range of 50–300 years. Envi- ronmental variables shaping the structural c...

Pectenia plumbea (Blue Felt Lichen) is a cyanolichen considered rare and at-risk in eastern North America. Most of the North American distribution is in the Canadian Atlantic provinces. More than 60% of the previously documented individual thalli were from the province of Nova Scotia. Here, we document a new location for this species on the island...

According to International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines, all species must be assessed against all criteria during the Red Listing process. For organismal groups that are diverse and understudied, assessors face considerable challenges in assembling evidence due to difficulty in applying definitions of key terms used in the...

Calicium poculatum and Ramboldia canadensis are described as new species occurring on Larix laricina . Calicium poculatum , currently known from four Canadian provinces and the US state of Minnesota, is characterized by its short-stalked black ascomata, short ascospores and occurrence as a parasite on Lecanora caesiorubella subsp. saximontana . Bas...

Records of forty-eight new or noteworthy lichens, allied fungi or lichenicolous fungi from Québec are presented. The majority of specimens were collected during opportunistic field visits and inventories conducted between 2014 and 2023. Additionally, we include previously undocumented specimens, either collected in earlier years or more recently, t...

The Cladonia cervicornis group comprises lichen-forming fungi characterized by having scyphi with central proliferations. It includes c . 20 species globally. The taxonomy of this group is poorly resolved, with many species not thoroughly disentangled. The focus of this study is the European species in the C. cervicornis group. In order to estimate...

During the Mars 160 Mission in 2016 and 2017, crews at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, USA and the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) on Tallurutit (Devon Island), Nunavut, Canada, conducted a collections‑based survey of lichen biodiversity at each of these Martian planetary analogs. Here we present the results of these...

The island of Newfoundland, Canada, is known as an area with high lichen species richness; however, most of this diversity is known from coastal regions where the ocean creates a maritime climate. The central part of the island has a more continental climate and is also the part of the province with the highest levels of industrial forest harvest a...

Scientific history has many examples of profound statements that are later found to be unsubstantiated. The consequences of such misinformation can be dire. In the present article, we present a case where an unevidenced estimate of global lichen coverage proliferated through both scientific literature and popular media. We traced this estimate to a...

Lecidea varians is among the most common and abundant bark-dwelling crustose lichens in temperate eastern North America. As presently delimited, it is highly variable, including chemical and morphological diversity well beyond that currently accepted for most lichen species. The generic placement of L. varians has also been questioned for decades....

Agguttinni Territorial Park is a large, newly established park on the east-central coast of Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. Previous knowledge of the plant and lichen biodiversity was limited and based mostly on collections made during the 1950 Baffin Island Expedition. We conducted a floristic inventory of the park in 2021 and reexamined previou...

Bioblitzes are a tool for the rapid appraisal of biodiversity and are particularly useful in remote and understudied regions and for understudied taxa. Lichens are an example of an often overlooked group, despite being widespread in virtually all terrestrial ecosystems and having many important ecological functions. We report the lichens and allied...

The globally distributed genus Trichaptum is one of the most species-rich among polypores in terms of hosting other fungi. Among Trichaptum -associates, there is a group of mazaediate lichenized fungi ( Coniocybomycetes , Ascomycota ) that previously had an uncertain phylogenetic position. DNA sequences – mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU), nuclea...

Species-focused conservation requires a thorough understanding of species’ distributions. Delineating a species’ distribution requires taxonomic knowledge and adequate occurrence data. For plants and fungi, herbaria represent a valuable source of large-scale occurrence data. Advances in digital technology mean that data from many herbarium collecti...

Two resinicolous calicioid fungi, Chaenothecopsis hendersonii and C. minganensis, are described as new to science and three calicioid fungi (Chaenothecopsis formosa, Cryptocalicium blascoi and Microcalicium loraasii) and one calicioid lichen (Calicium episcalaris) are reported as new to North America. In addition, Sphaerophorus tuckermanii is repor...

Lichens are complex life forms that are the result of a symbiotic partnership between multiple organisms, usually the dominant organisms are a fungus and an alga. Though often overlooked or mistaken for other organisms (like moss), lichens are a critical part of each ecosystem they inhabit and are important sources of food, absorbers of carbon diox...

Calicium sperlingiae is described as new from Oregon, U.S.A. It was collected on the bark of Pseudotsuga menziesii on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of the Interior. It is placed in Calicium based on morphology (stalked apothecia with black mazaedia and brown 2-celled, ellipsoidal ascospores) and molecular...

Based on hypotheses related to environmental filtering vs. stochastic community assembly, we tested taxon-specific predictions regarding the relationships of alpha diversity, beta diversity and species composition of epiphytic macrolichens and bryophytes with elevation and the lateral gradient on trees (the different sides of the tree bole related...

Variation in mitochondrial genome composition across intraspecific, interspecific, and higher taxonomic scales has been little studied in lichen obligate symbioses. Cladonia is one of the most diverse and ecologically important lichen genera, with over 500 species representing an array of unique morphologies and chemical profiles. Here, we assess m...

Community science-generated biodiversity data can provide essential information for understanding species distributions, behaviors and conservation statuses. However, their utility can be limited due to high uncertainty and variability in quality, especially for small taxonomically difficult organisms like fungi and insects. One important set of co...

Rouge National Urban Park is in the eastern region of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) of southern Ontario. It was established in 2015 and is Canada’s first national urban park. To better understand the biodiversity in the park, we conducted a survey of the lichens and allied fungi and discovered 124 species in 69 genera. Three species are reported f...

Fungal species are not immune to the threats facing animals and plants and are thus also prone to extinction. Yet, until 2015, fungi were nearly absent on the IUCN Red List. Recent efforts to identify fungal species under threat have significantly increased the number of published fungal assessments. The 597 species of fungi published in the 2022-1...

Lichenized fungi are known for their production of a diversity of secondary metabolites, many of which have broad biological and pharmacological applications. By far the most well-studied of these metabolites is usnic acid. While this metabolite has been well-known and researched for decades, the gene cluster responsible for its production was only...

Peltigera islandica and P. lyngei are rarely reported lichens. Previously, P. islandica was known from British Columbia, Estonia, and Iceland, and P. lyngei from Amchitka Island (Alaska), Gough Island (South Atlantic), Iceland, Siberia and Svalbard. Both species are reported here for the first time from the Canadian Arctic and from the second local...

Originally described from a single collection in northern California, Umbilicaria phaea var. coccinea has since been reported from additional sites in California, Oregon and Washington. Although relatively rare in all three states, there is currently no conservation status for U. phaea var. coccinea in California. Developing conservation strategies...

Robust species delimitations provide a foundation for investigating speciation, phylogeography, and conservation. Here we attempted to elucidate species boundaries in the cosmopolitan lichen-forming fungal taxon Lecanora polytropa. This nominal taxon is morphologically variable, with distinct populations occurring on all seven continents. To delimi...

Calicioids are a group of lichenized and non-lichenized fungi that are superficially similar to each other in appearance. Many members of this group tend to be restricted to old-growth forests, for which they have been used as indicators. However, the definition of old-growth varies among jurisdictions and forest types. In addition, variables other...

Alectoria fallacina, described by the prolific 20th century lichenologist Josef Motyka, is a threatened species narrowly endemic to the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America. The production of a unique unidentified fatty acid as the main secondary metabolite chemically separates A. fallacina from its congeners, especially the morphological...

We assess the identification accuracy of ‘research grade’ observations of lichens posted on the online platform iNaturalist. Our results show that these observations are frequently misidentified or lack the necessary chemical and (or) microscopic information for accurate identification. Lichens are a taxonomically difficult group, but they are ubiq...

We provide a list of 15 lichens and allied fungi that are currently only known to occur in Canada. Our analysis builds on previous initiatives to identify nationally endemic species. Some of these species are newly described and occur in southern Canada and may still be discovered in the United States. Five species occur in areas that have been ide...

Fascicle II of the Lichens of Canada Exsiccati is disseminated by the National Herbarium of Canada (CANL) at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Thirty-five sets of 50 species are distributed to: ALTA, ASU, B, BG, BR, BRY, C, CANB, CANL, COLO, DUKE, E, EWU, F, FH, FR, GZU, H, K, KANU, LD, LUX, M, MSC, NBM, NFLD, NY, O, OSC, QFA, S, TNS, TU, and UPS. Spe...

ABSTRACT.—The North Fork of the Nooksack River is the northernmost river in Washington State. It is located on the western slope of the North Cascade Mountains and runs east to west near the Canadian border. Here we report the findings of a lichen and allied fungi survey of the valley bottom conducted in 2019. One hundred and forty-five species wer...

The draft genome sequence of Bacidia gigantensis, a lichenized fungus in the order Lecanorales, was sequenced directly from a herbarium specimen collected from the type locality at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. Using longread sequencing on the Oxford Nanopore PromethION platform, we assembled a nearly complete genome sequence.

Premise: Populations of species with large spatial distributions are shaped by complex forces that differ throughout their ranges. To maintain the genetic diversity of species, genepool-based subsets of widespread species must be considered in conservation assessments. Methods: The population genetics of the lichenized fungus Lobaria pulmonaria...

The inventory of lichens, allied fungi, and their parasites in the Ottawa region has grown from 391 in 1988 to 543 today, almost entirely because of the discovery of species overlooked in previous years and the inclusion of fungal parasites. In addition, almost 140 names have changed with reclassifications and re-identifications. These changes are...

Sulcaria spiralifera is a fruticose arboreal lichen that is endemic to coastal dune forests in western North America. It occurs at scattered localities from central California to Washington. It is rare throughout its range, except on the Samoa Peninsula in California's Humboldt County and on the Oregon Dunes in Coos County where it is locally abund...

Cladonia krogiana, previously known only from Norway and the Czech Republic, is reported here for North America from two localities near the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada. It occurs there on open, rocky banks of clear, free-flowing rivers, habitats similar to those in which it has been found in Norway. We also document the occurrence of C. ra...

New provincial and territorial records for Canadian lichens and allied fungi are presented, many of which represent major range extensions. Crespoa crozalsiana is reported for the first time from Canada. New reports are made for the first time from five provinces and one territory: Newfoundland and Labrador (Geltingia associata on Ochrolechia), Nov...

Calicioid lichens and fungi form a diverse polyphyletic group whose species richness is often associated with old-growth forests and ecological continuity. One of the last intact forest landscapes south of the 50th parallel in Québec includes the Ya’nienhonhndeh territory, which has been the focus of a protected area project directed by the Huron-W...

Calogaya saxicola (≡ Caloplaca saxicola) is reported for the first time from the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Canadian High Arctic. The report is based on an unusual form with inconspicuous or absent lobes and clustered apothecia forming hemispherical mounds. It was identified using a molecular phylogenetic analysis of ITS nrDNA sequence data. Ou...

There is debate about what drives and maintains the structure of arboreal lichen communities and the relative importance of substrate vs. local environment. Here, we examined which lichen species are unique to two tree species [Abies balsamea (L.) Mill. and Betula alleghaniensis Britton] in the boreal forests of the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland,...

Cladonia subgenus Cladina (the reindeer lichens) can be a dominant part of terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. They are particularly abundant in arctic-alpine and boreal regions, where they are a primary food source for woodland caribou/reindeer in winter months. Determining the growth rates of reindeer lichen is important for understanding and manag...

We report Chaenothecopsis ochroleuca, Haematomma ochroleucum, and Multiclavula vernalis for the first time from Maine. These species are infrequently reported in North America. Our findings are a direct result of lichenology seminars hosted by the Eagle Hill Institute in Steuben, ME.

G.K. Merrill proposed three new Calicium taxa that have largely been absent from North American lichen literature since their publication in The Bryologist in 1909. Calicium obscurum [≡ Chaenotheca obscura ], which colonizes the basidiocarps of Trichaptum abietinum , predates the use of Chaenotheca balsamconensis . Calicium minutissimum was reintro...

Sixty-four species of calicioid lichens and fungi are reported from the state of Minnesota, which is located in the upper Midwest of the United States. Chaenothecopsis jordaniana and C. penningtonensis are new to science, Calicium denigratum is reported for the first time from the United States, and an additional 23 species are reported for the fir...

Bacidia gigantensis, a green to greenish-brown, sorediate, crustose to microsquamulose lichen is described as new to science. It is corticolous on mature Thuja occidentalis trees throughout Sleeping Giant Provincial Park on the Sibley Peninsula along the north shore of Lake Superior, Ontario. The species is unusual within Bacidia due to the product...

In the spring of 2017, the 26th Tuckerman Workshop was held in central Alabama, based in Columbiana. Participants collected lichens from six unique sites across the hills of central Alabama. An account of the lichens collected from five of those sites are presented here. A total of 274 species from 118 genera are reported from the region based on f...

During lichen surveys conducted in Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador, two new calicioid lichen species for the province were discovered, increasing the number of known calicioid species in the province to 35. One of the species, Chaenotheca brachypoda, was previously known in the Maritimes provinces, Ontario, and British Columbia...

Stigomena is a genus of cyanobacteria that is often the photobiont associated with the lichen genus Stereocaulon. To elucidate the evolutionary relationships between Stereocaulon and Stigonema and assess whether there is specificity or selectivity at the ecosystem or species levels, we performed phylogenetic analyses on specimens collected througho...

Hypotrachyna virginica warrants a status of critically endangered as its AOO and EOO are projected to reduce by >80% within its next three generations. Species distribution models projected to 2050 and 2070 using two different climate change models (CCSM4 and HadGEM2-AO) at the lowest and highest carbon dioxide concentration (2.6 and 8.5 rcp) were...

Sandbar Lake Provincial Park (Sandbar Lake) covers 8053 ha in the boreal forest in northwestern Ontario. Within the park boundary are natural forests representative of those in the region, as well as forests that are heavily disturbed from resource extraction activities, which are prevalent in northwestern Ontario. The lichen biota in this part of...

In Canada, detailed knowledge of the macrolichen biota in national parks is surprisingly sparse. Forillon National Park (Forillon) in Quebec, Canada, is an example, with no previously published accounts of lichens. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a survey of the macrolichens in the park and reviewed past collections to establish a baseline...

Alectoria sorediosa is reported from Québec, Canada for the first time from the conifer zone above 1000 m in Parc national du Mont-Mégantic. This rare species has only been reported in North America five times previously. Ours is the second report from eastern North America.

In conservation biology there have been varying answers to the question of “How much land to protect?” Simulation models using decision-support software such as Marxan show that the answer is sensitive to target type and amount, and issues of scale. We used a novel model system for landscape ecology to test empirically whether the minimum conservat...

The first checklist of lichenized, lichenicolous and lichen-allied fungi from the Kathy Stiles Freeland Bibb County Glades Preserve in Bibb County, Alabama, is presented. Collections made during the 2017 Tuckerman Workshop and additional records from herbaria and online sources are included. Two hundred and thirty-eight taxa in 115 genera are enume...

Three species of lichenized basidiomycetes in the Dictyonema clade from southeastern North America are described as new to science: Cyphellostereum georgianum , C. jamesianum and Dictyonema lawreyi , all with a crustose-filamentous growth form. Based on ITS sequences, the species form well-supported monophyletic clades in a phylogeny and are repres...

Biodiversity hotspots are regions with high numbers of rare species that are conservation priorities. Hall’s Gullies is a region on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, Canada, that is well known for a large population of Erioderma pedicellatum, a lichen that is listed globally as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation o...

Major range extensions for Canadian lichens and allied fungi are presented. Six species are reported for the first time from Canada: Chaenothecopsis lecanactidis, C. nigripunctata, Chrysothrix insulizans, Julella lactea, Parmotrema stuppeum, and Porina scabrida. New reports are made for the first time from six provinces and one territory: British C...

The Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain (MACP) is an ecoregion with high biodiversity that is under imminent threat from sea level rise and habitat loss. Previous studies have shown i) the area to be high in lichen biodiversity, including endemic species, ii) the most lichen species-rich sites are the most imperiled by sea-level rise, and iii) common, wides...

Lichens are diverse symbiotic organisms that contribute essential functions to ecosystems worldwide. Generally, lichens are under-represented in conservation assessments and implementation when compared to other groups of organisms (e.g., plants and vertebrates). However, some progress has been made towards better conservation of lichens in recent...

Notes on four taxa are presented as part of an effort to resolve the taxonomic status of neglected crustose lichen names based on material from North America. Lecidea deminutula, described from non-calcareous rocks in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, is placed in synonymy with Lecidella enteroleucella. Lecidea olivacea var. inspersa, describ...

Bioblitzes are typically 24-hour biological surveys of a defined region carried out by taxonomic specialists, citizen scientists, and the general public. The largest in Canada is the Ontario BioBlitz, an annual event held in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Between 2013 and 2016, we examined the feasibility of including lichens and allied fungi in t...

Conservation of rare species relies on a thorough knowledge of distributions and the locations of populations. Field surveys for new populations of rare species are time consuming and resource intensive. Thus, it is essential to conduct searches as efficiently as possible. Model-based sampling, where species distribution models are used to select s...

Alvars are globally rare ecosystems occurring mostly in the Great Lakes region of North America and the Baltic region of northern Europe. They are defined by calcareous rock (dolostone, limestone, or marble) plains with exposed pavement, thin soil with grasslands, or forested areas that are usually stunted. One of the largest alvars in the Great La...

The distribution of calicioid lichens and fungi is poorly understood in many areas of North America. For example, there were no previously known collections from Forillon National Park in Quebec, Canada. Therefore, we conducted a comprehensive inventory of the calicioid species in this unexplored area and discovered 30 species in nine genera. One s...