Lichen-associated fungi of the Letharietum vulpinae

In the present study, a well-defined lichen community was screened for associated fungi for the first time. The photophilous lichen community Letharietum vulpinae was chosen because its character species, Letharia vulpina, was expected to host rather specialized fungi due to the presence of antimycotic secondary compounds. A considerable number of the associated fungi that were isolated were probably selective for lichens, because they appeared to be distantly related to fungi known from other substrates. The majority of these obligatory, lichen-associated fungi were only isolated in the course of the present study and represent hitherto unknown phylogenetic lineages. Parts of the lichen-associated fungi overlapped those colonizing rock surfaces or were closely related to endophytic fungi, but the lichen-associated and endophytic fungi still represented separate lineages.