SECOND DAY IN THE FIELD

This morning, we enjoyed a good breakfast, the arrival of Jana Steinová, and the great view towards the Tatra mountains – Belianske Tatry.

This day was dedicated to granitic rocks exclusively. We drove to the small town, Tatranská Lomnica, and took the “lanovka” (cabin lift) to the Lomnický štít, the second highest peak of the Tatras, 2634 m. The lanovka was safe, Alica assured us, because it recently fell down and were therefore exchanged with a brand new cabin and cable......



At the very top, it was not entirely straight forward to collect. Fences protected people from falling down the steep mountain, but also made lichen-collecting somewhat challenging.

Einar Timdal collecting Calvitimela armeniaca using his foot as "collect-stopper".

Calvitimela armeniaca

After some creative collecting (see above), most of the group lost the spirit when the weather turned foggy and it started to hail. 

The “return-to-lanovka-spirit” became acute when Alica fetched some climbing gear. The majority of the group jumped onto the first lanovka back to the middle station, Skalnaté pleso (1754 m), where one could collect under more “normal” conditions. We saw, e.g., Brodoa atrofusca, B. intestiniformis, Calvitimela armeniaca, Cornicularia normoerica, Lecidea confluens, Lecidoma demissum, Orphniospora moriopsis, Protoparmelia badia, P. phaeonesos, Psorinia conglomerata, Sporastatia testudinea.

Psorinia conglomerata

In the meantime, Alica did some outside-the-fence collecting, secured by Mika. In addition to a few interesting collections (Alectoria ochroleuca, Cetraria ericetorum, C. islandica, Cladonia macroceras,  Flavocetraria cuculata, F. nivalis, Thamnolia vermicularis, Umbilicaria cylindrica, U. crustulosa, U. decussata, U. deusta, U. hirsuta), this activity definitely resulted in some “public outreach”.

Alica prepared for "lichen hunting"

Cetraria islandica, Flavocetraria nivalis, Alectoria ochroleuca, Thamnolia vermicularis

Umbilicaria decussata

Finally, gathered at 1754 m (the middle station), a sudden hail shower chased us all into the restaurant, and eventually back down to Tatranská Lomnica. Down there, some collected epiphytic lichens (e.g. Melanohalea glabra), others shopped more or less necessary consumables/souvenirs.

Back at “Penzion u Pavla” in Ždiar, we were served a traditional dish called Halušky. A mighty, calorie-bomb after a day of hard work!

Anna Guttová and Zuzana Fačkovcová joined the lichen-team. Finally, our bryological friends arrived after a long day on the road and in the field. Penzion u Pavla is now full!

First day in the field

But first, a picture from Sunday evening, the barbeque at Alica's home in Stupava near Bratislava. We met Martin at the hotel, so now we are six. From left: Martin, Mika, Siri, and Håkon. Alica is preparing food somewhere, and I am behind the camera.

We drove all day to the Tatras, with one collecting stop near Bytča; open, calcareous rocks. Here is a view of the site from the parking lot. 

Highlights: Caloplaca cirrochroa, Porpidinia tumidula, Psora testacea, P. vallesiaca, Toninia diffracta, and T. opuntioides.

Porpidinia tumidula

Lichen hunting in Slovakia!

Our good friends in Slovakia invited us to a week of lichen hunting in the Tatra mountains. What a wonderful oppotunity to get to know a fascinating part of Europe, collect material for various projects, and further develop friendship!

But first, a little pre-excursion to Vienna. The central part of the city is a lichen desert, only Phaeophyscia orbicularis and Xanthoria parietina were seen. But at the Belvedere pallas, we saw something really interesting: Xanthoria parieting starting out as a 'Jugendparasit' on Physcia dubia. This has been reported before, but very rarely - and we have only seen X. polycarpa acting like this in Scandinavia.

Sorry for the poor image quality, the picture was taken in the hotel room through a cheap hand lens.

After this mindblowing experience, we (Siri and Einar) met Alica, Mika, and Håkon at Vienna airport and drove to Stupava near Bratislava for a nice barbeque at Alica's home. Tomorrow it all starts!

Saturday 28th - Tuesday 1st: São Paulo

The last days of our trip was spent in São Paulo. We stayed in the guest house of Instituto de Botânica at the Jardim Botânico. 

The guest house

After some hours in the lab on Saturday morning, we went out to explore the 12th largest city in the world. 

Adriana, Viviana and Jimmy were our guides

A small fragment of the concrete jungle

In the heart of the city lies a beautiful forest park, Trianon. No Phyllopsoras!

A good meal at a Chinese restaurant

On Sunday, our lazy days continued ;-) Anne Karin and Malin went to the Museum of modern art, MASP. Sonja took a walk in the botanical garden and Einar went out on a long awaited bird watch. He got four new species on his life list (Cocoi Heron, Slaty-breasted Wood-Rail, Squirrel Cuckoo and Rufous Hornero).

 Great and Snowy Egret

On Monday it was about time that we got back in the field. We took a look in a rainforest fragment within the botanical garden. It was actually quite good, we made about 20 interesting collections. 

We also had Ricardo with us, one of Adriana's PhD stundents

We found a butterfly that had just come out of it's cocoon and was preparing for the first flight

In the lab, preparing the specimens

Tuesday was our last day in the field in this adventure. We travelled an hour out of the center of São Paulo to Reserva Biológica do Alto da Serra de Paranapiacaba. This was a wet and dense rainforest, so not a good spot for Phyllopsoras, but oh so beautiful. Even though we collected few species, they were all interesing. 

Tiny orchid on a tree trunk

A last group photo

A farewell dinner with our wonderful hosts

NEXT: Norway 

Wednesday 25th – Friday 27th: Parque Nacional do Itatiaia

On Tuesday evening we arrived at São Paulo and three of us went for dinner.

The next morning we were picked up by Adriana and Viviana from the Instituto de Botânica SP and left for the Itatiaia National Park. It was established in 1937 and is Brazil’s oldest national park with an area of 300 km². Here we were going to spend the next couple of days in the subtropical part of the Mata Atlântica. This is one of the few areas with Atlantic rainforest remaining in South America.

Casa do Pesquisadores - our quarters

During the first afternoon, we went for a short walk to get an impression of the lichen flora; and we were rewarded with many interesting Phyllopsora species.

The following day, we drove further up to a height of 1100 m and split into two teams for collecting. We went on different trails and found almost 70 specimens! Among others Physcidia, Crocynia and Phyllopsora cinchonarum. Surprisingly, we also discovered the genus Eschatogonia which we did not know occurred in southern Brazil!

Phyllopsora sp.

maybe Phyllopsora cinchonarum?

and surprisingly Eschatogonia!

However, not only the lichens caught our attention...

a beautiful Iridaceae

a Morpho butterfly

a big little fellow crossing our path

a funny catterpillar

After a long day in the field we went to Downtown Itatiaia and ate a lovely, traditional dinner: PIZZA. :)

the tasty pizza :)

working in the evening

Before leaving the national park, we went on a last hike. Phyllopsoras grew on every tree and also more Eschatogonia could be found!

view from the path

Now we are leaving back to civilization in São Paulo!