The "Martian" flora: new collections of vascular plants, lichens, fungi, algae, and cyanobacteria from the Mars Desert Research Station, Utah
Citation
Sokoloff P (2016). The “Martian” flora: new collections of vascular plants, lichens, fungi, algae, and cyanobacteria from the Mars Desert Research Station, Utah. Biodiversity Data Journal. Checklist Dataset https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.4.e8176 accessed via GBIF.org on 2017-08-17.Description
The Mars Desert Research Station is a Mars analog research site located in the desert outside of Hanksville, Utah, U.S.A. Here we present a preliminary checklist of the vascular plant and lichen flora for the station, based on collections made primarily during a two-week simulated Mars mission in November, 2014. Additionally, we present notes on the endolithic chlorophytes and cyanobacteria, and the identification of a fungal genus also based on these collections. Altogether, we recorded 38 vascular plant species from 14 families, 13 lichen species from seven families, six algae taxa including both chlorophytes and cyanobacteria, and one fungal genus from the station and surrounding area. We discuss this floristic diversity in the context of the ecology of the nearby San Rafael Swell and the desert areas of Wayne and Emery counties in southeastern Utah.Taxonomic Coverages
Geographic Coverages
Bibliographic Citations
Contacts
Paul Sokolofforiginator
position: Mr
Canadian Museum of Nature
Ottawa
CA
email: psokoloff@mus-nature.ca
Paul Sokoloff
metadata author
position: Mr
Canadian Museum of Nature
Ottawa
CA
email: psokoloff@mus-nature.ca
Paul Sokoloff
administrative point of contact
position: Mr
Canadian Museum of Nature
Ottawa
CA
email: psokoloff@mus-nature.ca