LICHENS OF EAST LIMESTONE ISLAND: THE FIRST CHECKLIST

The Limestone Islands, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), support a rich plant community owing to their unique geology and geographic location. Lichens are an integral and ecologically important component of old-growth forests, and some of the species are uncommon. In this paper, we describe the lichen flora of East Limestone Island and provide a preliminary checklist. We identified 45 species, mostly foliose and fruticose lichens; we did not attempt to document all encrusting species. Nearly 80 % of the species were found in forest. Nine species were categorised as rare on the island, with some classified elsewhere as “ancient forest ” species. This study is the first step towards an inventory of lichens on Limestone Island and we encourage others to add to the checklist. INTRODUCTION AND METHODS The Queen Charlotte Islands archipelago is home to many species of rare plants, including several endemics (Calder and Taylor 1968). The presence of limestone on East Limestone Island, as elsewhere on Haida Gwaii, suggests the likely occurrence of rare plants, (Roemer and Ogilvie 1983). In 1997, East Limestone Island was surveyed fo