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Training - Lichen Workshop
 The first International Workshop on Tropical Lichenology, to be held at Las Cruces Biological Station (O.T.S. – Organization for Tropical Studies) in Costa Rica in October 2004, brings together a group of 30 Latin and North American mycology and lichenology students from 12 countries, and three international instructors from the U.S.A., Germany, and Mexico. Aim of the workshop is to train the students in all aspects of tropical lichenology, including the biology, morphology, anatomy and chemistry of tropical lichens, their taxonomy and systematics, collection and herbarium methods, and quantitative sampling techniques for ecological and applied studies. The workshop will focus on lichen taxa that are typical of and abundant in tropical ecosystems, such as Arthoniaceae, Coccocarpiaceae, Collemataceae, Coenogoniaceae, Graphidaceae, Haematommataceae, Lecanoraceae, Lobariaceae, Megalosporaceae, Parmeliaceae, Physciaceae, Porinaceae, Pyrenulaceae, Ramalinaceae, Roccellaceae, Thelotremataceae, and Trypetheliaceae. The students will become familiar with identification techniques, including microscopic studies and thin layer chromatography, and will be able to identify about 100 lichen genera, and species in selected genera. They will also be trained to conduct research such as lichen biodiversity inventories and quantitative ecological and applies studies, including the use of lichens as bioindicators of ecological continuity and anthropogenic perturbation. Apart from the training aspect, the workshop will produce a number of educational and scientific products, including a trilingual introductory manual on tropical lichenology (English / Spanish / Portuguese), identification tools to tropical lichen genera and species in various formats (online interactive and semi-interactive; desktop semi-interactive; printed traditional), and a taxonomic revision of the genus Graphis in the Neotropics, with co-authorship of all workshop participants. This workshop will also serve as a pilot project to install a permanent O.T.S. tropical lichen course in Costa Rica, with the PI as main instructor. The workshop is financially supported by a supplement grant from the NSF to the TICOLICHEN project.
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