Contact : Damien Ertz & Dries Van den Broeck
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Research in lichenology has been recently developed in the Garden. The herbarium collections continuously grow with the specimens gathered during our field missions in Africa, America, Antarctica and Europe or by the acquisition of other herbaria, e.g. ca. 50.000 specimens of the herbarium of André Aptroot in 2011. Taxonomic studies of the Arthoniales based on morphology and molecular phylogeny is the main research activity. Additional studies concern contributions of the taxonomy of lichens from tropical Africa and Macaronesia, molecular studies of lichenized or lichenicolous fungi, the lichens checklists of Belgium and Macaronesia... in collaboration with various institutions worldwide. Another important topic is the study of the influence of anthropomorphic disturbances like forest management and air pollution on the lichen diversity.
