Lichen diversity of Padder Valley Kishtwar (J&K), India

Lichens are one of the most successful group of organisms and form an important aspect of biodiversity of any region. But still lichens are under explored in most of regions.  The present work has been carried out in Padder Valley, Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). A thorough survey of the lichen diversity from all the possible habitats was conducted in the study area which indicated the presence of 110 species belonging to 54 genera and 23 families. Parmiliaceae has been recorded as the largest family (16 genera, 27 species) and is followed by Physciaceae (8 genera, 14 species). Four families have been observed to be monotypic. Lecanora has been recorded as dominant genera with 7 species followed by Peltigera with 5 species. Corticolous was most preferred substratum exhibited by 61 species while foliose was the most dominant type of growth form represented by 52 species. The study has added 94 lichen taxa as new records for district Kishtwar and is first of its kind in Padder Valley, J&K