The world-renowned scientific journal Scientific Reports (Nature) published a joint article by Ukrainian and Polish scientists, dedicated to the donkeyʼs ear lichen or umbilicaria. The article discussed its species and distribution in the Antarctic region of the Argentine Islands — on the Kyiv peninsula, where the Akademik Vernadskyi station is located.
This was reported by the National Antarctic Science Center (NASC).
Biologists Ivan Parnikosa, Viktoriya Ivanets and Hanna Yevchun were the authors of the article from NASC. This article is the result of several seasonal expeditions to the Antarctic and a two-year scientific collaboration.
Thanks to modern genetic methods, scientists for the first time found out exactly how many species of this lichen there are in the area of the Ukrainian station. It turned out that this region is the second in the Antarctic in terms of species diversity of the donkeyʼs ear, after the King George Island studied by Polish colleagues, which is located 300 km north of "Vernadskyi".
Ukrainian scientists recorded as many as seven species of these lichens in the Antarctic region of the Argentine Islands.
Namely, in this region the African donkeyʼs ear or Umbilicaria africana and, as noted in the National Institute of Natural Sciences, the "surprisingly rare" — wild boarʼs ear — U. aprina, were discovered for the first time. The discovery of the African donkeyʼs ear moves the southern limit of its distribution in the maritime Antarctic by 300 kilometers to the south.
A rare decoration of the Akademik Vernadsky station area is the wavy donkey ear or U. nylanderiana.
Donkeyʼs ear wavy (U. nylanderiana).
Instead, the most widespread in that area is the Antarctic donkeyʼs ear (U. antarctica). And for Kappenʼs donkeyʼs ear (U. kappenii), which is very similar to it, the area of the Akademik Vernadskyi station is one of the best-studied places of distribution. Both of these ears are endemic to the Antarctic, that is, they are not found anywhere else in the world.
Antarctic donkeyʼs ear (U. antarctica).
The gray donkeyʼs ear (U. umbilicaroides), which is considered rare in the rest of Antarctica, was also extremely widespread in the region. Therefore, this species is one of the visiting cards of that area.
Gray donkeyʼs ear (U. umbilicaroides).
On the other hand, the wrinkled donkeyʼs ear (U. decussata), widely distributed in the Antarctic, turned out to be much rarer in the area of the station.
Donkeyʼs ear wrinkled (U. decussata).
During the preparation of the article, distribution maps of the species found in the maritime Antarctic were also created for the first time.
Distribution map of the Antarctic donkeyʼs ear.
The NASC said that these findings are important because, depending on the local micro-conditions and climate, the composition of the donkeyʼs ear species will be different. That is, these species can be used to monitor climate change.
In addition, scientists have confirmed that rare species grow in the "Akademika Vernadskyi" area, which should be protected. This adds to the arguments in favor of creating an area there under special protection. For several years, Ukraine has been promoting such a decision at meetings of the Antarctic Treaty, despite the resistance of China and the Russian Federation.