Trial Lecture
Title: TBA
Time and place: November 6, 2026 10:15 AM, Tøyen hovedgård
Public Defence
Adjudication Committee
- Professor Imke Schmitt, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Goethe University Frankfurt
- Professor emeritus Göran Thor, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala
- Professor Øyvind Hammer, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
- Museum Director Brit Lisa Skjelkvåle, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Professor Einar Timdal, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
- Professor Mika Bendiksby, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
- Dr Ella Thoen, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
Summary
Rocks and soils rich in heavy metals, in Norway mostly found around old mines, are home to a unique set of lichens. This thesis shows that these places hold far more lichen species than anyone knew, and that some of the species are known from only one or few threatened sites. Norway's old mining areas are therefore worth protecting for the life they support, not just for their historical value.
Lichens are partnerships between a fungus and an alga or blue-green bacterium. The crust-like lichens that grow on rock are often tiny and may look very similar, so many species have gone unnoticed. This thesis uses DNA to reorganise the map lichen family into more natural groups and builds a library of DNA barcodes for identifying species in the family. Nine species are recognized as new to science. One common rock lichen turned out to be six separate lineages that look identical.
Finally, the thesis tests a recently developed survey method: swabbing rock surfaces and reading the DNA left behind. Used alongside traditional surveys, this may give scientists and conservation managers better tools for finding overlooked species.
The work was part of the Taxonomy Initiative at the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre (NBIC / Artsdatabanken).
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