SwissLichens - Distribution of lichens in Switzerland

This dataset provides distribution data of lichens in Switzerland of the National Data and Information Centre, called Swiss Lichens. SwissLichens is a partner of InfoSpecies, the network of Swiss data and information centres for fauna, flora and fungi. One of its main objectives is to document the spatial and temporal distribution of species in Switzerland.

The SwissLichens database currently contains more than 120’000 georeferenced lichen observations, distributed throughout Swizerland. The oldest observations date back to 1790. A large portion of the records dtae from the last two decades of the last century to the present day. The database is continuously updated with new findings. The data have been validated and originate from national inventories, from research projects, from floristic observations by volunteers as well as from private and public herbaria and from the literature.

Each record consists of the species name, information of the location (Swiss Coordinates, precision of the coordinates, elevation above sea level, municipality and canton), the date of observation, the ecotype (epiphytic, terricol, lignicol, saxicol), as well as information on the conservation status of the species (red list status, conservation priority status, status in the Nature and Cultural Heritage Act). Information on the ecology (habitat, substrate) is partially available. They are free of charge for research projects and can be requested from InfoSpecies using a form.

Licence under www.infospecies.ch. Data is free of charge for research projects and available on request.

• Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) (link)
• Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL (link)

• Dymytrova L., Brändli U.B., Stofer S., Scheidegger C. (2019) Autochthone Gebirgswälder in der Schweiz anhand von baumbewohnenden Flechten erkennen. Schweiz. Z. Forstwes. 170(5), 258-265. doi.org/10.3188/szf.2019.0258
• Dymytrova L., Stofer S., Ginzler C., Breiner F.T., Scheidegger C. (2016) Forest-structure data improve distribution models of threatened habitat specialists: Implications for conservation of epiphytic lichens in forest landscapes. Biol. Conserv. 196, 31-38. doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.01.030
• Camathias L., Bergamini A., Küchler M., Stofer S., Baltensweiler A. (2013) High-resolution remote sensing data improves models of species richness. Appl. Veg. Sci. 16(4), 539-551. doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12028
• Stofer S., Scheidegger C., Dietrich M., Frei M., Groner U., Keller C., … Zimmermann E. (2008) SwissLichens - On-line Verbreitungsatlas der baumbewohnenden Flechten der Schweiz. Meylania. 26, 6-7.