The world-famous scientific journal Scientific Reports (Nature) has published a joint article by Ukrainian and Polish scientists on the lichen donkey’s ear or umbilicaria. The article describes its species and distribution in the Antarctic region of the Argentine Islands – on the Kyiv Peninsula, where the Akademik Vernadsky station is located.
This was reported by the National Antarctic Science Center (NASC).
The authors of the article from the NASC are biologists Ivan Parnikosa, Victoria Ivanets and Anna Yevchun. This article is the result of several seasonal expeditions to the Antarctic and two years of scientific cooperation.
Thanks to modern genetic methods, the scientists found out for the first time 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 Antarctica in terms of the diversity of donkey’s ear species after King George Island, which is located 300 km north of Vernadsky.
Ukrainian scientists have recorded as many as seven species of these lichens in the Antarctic region of the Argentine Islands.
