California and Mexico
In March 2010, François Lutzoni and Ester Gaya conducted fieldwork in southern California (San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains including James Reserve, Mojave Desert, Santa Cruz island, and Santa Monica Mountains) and Mexico (Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, and Sonora). About 235 specimens have been collected during this trip, representing different genera, all growth forms, all main secondary metabolite profiles, and all substrate preferences. However, we sampled preferentially epiphytes, as our preliminary taxon sampling was strongly biased toward saxicolous species.
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Peru
In June 2010, Ester conducted fieldwork in Peru in several fog-induced communities, such as ‘Lomas’ communities and ‘Selva Alta’, and more arid habitats in Andes cordillera (Lomas Villa Maria, Canta, San Ramon, La Merced, Oxapampa-Yanachaga Chemillen National Park, Tarma, etc.).
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Chile
In February 2011, Ester visited Chile, the Atacama Desert, the coastal oasis, and Valdivian forests (Alto Patache, Pan de Azucar NP, Llanos del Challe NP, Fray Jorge NP, Chiloé NP).
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More than 600 specimens have been collected in the joint efforts during Peru and Chile’s trips. Peru field trip in ‘Selva Alta’ areas was especially useful in providing additional samples for the subtropical families Brigantiaeaceae, Letrouitiaceae, and Megalosporaceae. In Chile, the sampling was mostly focused on the family Teloschistaceae, as the localities visited resulted in hot spots of diversity for this family. Hence, increasing the species richness and habitat diversity for the largest family of the Teloschistineae. New substrates (e.g., soil, mosses, cactus) were sampled for this group. Potentially new species have been collected.