18 - Studia Geobotanica. An international journal - Vol. 18 (1999)

05 infrageneric taxa, 777 of lichenized fungi, 23 of lichenicolous fungi, and 5 of non-lichenized fungi belonging to genera including also lichenized forms are reported from the eastern part of the Italian Peninsula. Six regions were surveyed, with a total of 130 collecting sites: Marche (35 sites, 420 taxa), Umbria (2 sites, 106 taxa), Abruzzo (23 sites, 460 taxa), Molise (11 sites, 304 taxa), Puglia (38 sites, 424 taxa) and Basilicata (21 sites, 337 taxa). These regions were among the lichenologically least known in Italy; their floras, compared with data provided six years ago in the first checklists of Italian lichens, have increased as follows: Marche, 159% (presently known flora: 484 taxa); Umbria, 455% (261 taxa); Abruzzo, 76% (589 taxa); Molise (305 taxa); Puglia, 48% (566 taxa); Basilicata, 115% (464 taxa). Fourteen taxa (Anema moedligense, Arthonia anombrophila, Aspicilia desertorum, Caloplaca veneris, Cresporhaphis wienkampii, Dirina cretacea, lmmersaria uzbekica, Lecanora congesta, L. graeca, Lecidea albohyalina, Peccania salevensis, P. riruncula, Thelidium dionantense, and T. impressum) are new to the Italian lichen flora. Earlier hypotheses about a basic difference in the lichen floras of Western (Tyrrhenian) and Eastern (Adriatic) peninsular Italy, the former with a higher incidence of subtropical-suboceanic species, are confirmed by the new data.

BIOMONITORING OF TRACE METALS BY LICHENS IN HIGH-RISK AREAS OF FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA (NE ITALY). This study is based on the concentrations of 16 metals in peripheral parts of the thalli of the lichen Xanthoria parietina, collected on trees satisfying standard conditions in 155 stations located in the lowlands of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (NE ltaly), previously selected as potential high-risk areas by Regional Authorities. The interpretation of metal concentrations is based upon two maps, showing, for each metal, its distributional pattern and the degree of deviation from background (natural) conditions. The latter has been estimated through a seven-class scale based on the percentile distributions of several hundreds measurements of metal concentrations carried out in foliose lichens throughout Italy during the last ten years, using similar methods. The joint occurrences of all metals in the stations are synthetized by maps based on three indices, an index of naturality (indicating the number of metals with concentrations within normai conditions), an index of environmental alteration (indicating the number of metals strongly deviating from the norm), and an index of potential toxicity (derived from that of alteration, with each metal weighed according to its toxicity). The Central-Southern part of the Province of Udine is the most severely affected by metals in general, while in several other stations single metals strongly deviate from normal conditions. These sites are suggested to the Regional Authorities as focal points for instrumental monitoring of environmental pollution. The introduction includes some basic considerations about epistemological, methodological and terminological matters related to the use of biomonitoring techniques.