This volume focuses on the interaction of lichens with their substrate, environment and their biogeographic effects. In seventeen chapters thirty-eight authors present recent findings and developments in systematics, biodiversity, floristic studies and ecology, as well as newly described taxa, and keys to the identification of Caloplaca and xanthorioid lichens. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of several groups and genera are presented, resulting in an improved systematics of, for example, Caloplaca, Cladonia, Collema and xanthorioid lichens. The genera Arthonia and Usnea in Greece (with key) are reviewed.

The volume is dedicated to Prof. Hans Martin Jahns on the occasion of his 70th birthday, featuring papers on some of his favourite fields of research, among them lichen interactions with their substrate and environment and lichen biogeography. A brief biography of Jahns, highlighting his contributions to lichenology, is included in the chapter on the nine Presidents of the International Association for Lichenology. Jahns played an important role during the past 40 years with his highly influential book, co-authored by Aino Henssen, entitled Lichenes. Eine Einführung in die Flechtenkunde. He is well-known for his extensive work and numerous publications on lichen morphology and ontogeny, particularly the development of fruiting bodies in different genera.

The volume is dedicated to Prof. Hans Martin Jahns. Most of us have known his name as Aino Henssen’s co-author of their textbook on lichens “Lichenes, eine Einführung in die Flechtenkunde” since 1974. It is an astonishing experience to learn that he reached his 70th anniversary by now. Recently other similarly valuable volumes, festschrifts were published in Bibliotheca Lichenologica with slightly similar titles, therefore choosing a more unique title would have been better appreciated by lichenologist readers (teachers, students, researchers) who follow more subjects within lichenology and so interested in several volumes of the series.

Seventeen papers written by 39 authors are collected in the volume. The first one by Arvidsson contains valuable bibliographic details on the 9 presidents of the International Association for Lichenology acted up to now. Besides the objective data on education and most important works, often personal memories of the author brings the reader closer to the prominent personalities. Photographs taken by close colleagues are added.

The papers are in alphabetical order by first authors, however here I present them according to main topics mentioned in the title of the volume.

Systematics of lichens is represented by descriptions of taxa Caloplaca magellanica (Søchting and Sancho), Collema paramense (Jørgensen and Palice), Rinodina candidogrisea (Hafellner et al.); studies on genera Aphanopsis, Steinia (Printzen et al.) and Usnea (Sipman); new results on cetrarioid (Hametner et al.) and xanthorioid lichens (Fedorenko et al.) and two Cladonia species (Pino-Bodas et al.) gained by molecular methods; by a key on Australian Caloplaca species (Kondratyuk et al.) and finally by a literature review on Arthonia s.l. (Sundin et al.).

Topics on biodiversity are partly covered by the above topics, furthermore by two papers, e.g. the one on saxicolous lichens of Munich (Feuerer and Hertel), and another on lichens of Greenland in relation to climate change (Hansen).

Studies on classifying lichens in Grime’s plant strategy types (Bültmann and Daniëls), on the xerophilous lichen community of Gotland, Sweden (Schaper and Ott), on corticolous lichens in Düsseldorf affected by air pollution, town climate and climate change (Stapper), also the research concerning to the effects of fire on Australasian lichen communities (Stocker-Wörgötter et al.) belong to the field of ecology.

These topics cover the wide range of fields where Hans Martin Jahns was active as a researcher or supervisor. He must be satisfied with the results. An index to subjects and taxa is missing from the volume, especially because half of the papers are longer than 20 pages and some of them contain further descriptions of new taxa (e.g. 5 genera – Gallowayella, Jesmurraya, Honeggeria, Massjukiella and Martinjahnsia – in Fedorenko et al.) and nomenclatural novelties (see Sundin et al. or Fedorenko et al. – 26 new combinations) not just those mentioned in titles of papers.

E. FARKAS

Acta Botanica Hungarica 54 (3-4) - 2012

This collection brings together seventeen diverse lichenological research papers, each with a highly specialized focus. It is the 108th in the occasional series of lichenological volumes that has included biosystematic and floristic monographs, collected contributions from international congresses and symposia, and Festschriften of contributed papers assembled in honor of major figures in the field. Falling within the latter category, the present volume is dedicated to the German lichenologist H. Martin Jahns on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

Academic librarians and readers unfamiliar with the series should be forewarned: this volume is in no way a review or general treatment of the topics of lichen systematics, biodiversity and ecology. The title merely reflects the main subject headings under which most of these specialized contributions might be classified. And not all of the contributions fit easily within those headings, either; the lead article, by L. Arvidsson, comprises biographical sketches of the first nine presidents of the International Association for Lichenology. In the absence of any obvious organizational theme, the editors have chosen to arrange the seventeen papers by alphabetical order of primary authors.

A very short summary of Professor Jahns’ career is provided in the preface, along with a dedicatory letter from some of his former students. In the early 1970’s, Jahns co-authored (with A. Henssen) an influential book on lichenology (Lichenes: eine Einführung in die Flechtenkunde), which, though now dated, nonetheless remains relevant because of its comparative treatments of taxa with structural and developmental detail not found in other books on lichens. His scientific papers have contributed mainly to the subjects of lichen morphology, ontogeny and development. However, only one of the papers in the present dedicatory volume represents those interests: a study of crustose lichen development on rocks in Gotland, Sweden, by T. Schaper and S. Ott.

Three of the contributions concern systematics of Teloschistaceae: a molecular phylogeny of xanthorioid taxa (N. M. Fedorenko & al.), a key to the Australian caloplacas (S. Kondratyk & al.), and the description of a new Patagonian Caloplaca parasitic on Zahlbrucknerella (U. Søchting & L. G. Sancho). New taxa described in other groups include an alpine Rinodina (J. Hafellner & al.) and an Andean Collema (P. M. Jørgenssen & Z. Palice). Molecular analyses are used to distinguish two species of Cladonia (C. humilis and C. conista; R. Pino-Bodas & al.), to determine the phylogenetic placement of the genera Aphanopsis and Steinia (C. Printzen & al.), and to confirm the identities of lichenicolous fungi isolated into culture (Hametner & al.). An extensive literature review of the large and problematic genus Arthonia is provided by R. Sundin & al. Floristic contributions include an evaluation of the saxicolous lichens of Munich (T. Feuerer & H. Hertel), the genus Usnea on the smaller Greek islands (H. Sipman), and lichens of several localities in Greenland affected by global climate change (E. S. Hansen). Climate change and pollution effects are also considered in a study of corticolous lichens in Düsseldorf (N. J. Stapper, in German). Another paper, by H. Bültman & F. J. A. Daniëls, considers the possibility of using net photosynthetic rates as a stand-in for the more problematic relative growth rate measurements in classifying lichens according to Grime’s system of plant growth strategies. And the culture requirements and secondary chemistry of two species of Thysanothecium are compared in a work by Stocker-Wörgötter & al.

The cost of this 290-page paperback at current rates of exchange is somewhere around $120.

William B. Sanders, Florida Gulf Coast University

Plant Science Bulletin 59(1) 2013, page 25-26