Lichen Inventory of White Rocks Open Space (City of Boulder, Colorado)

Abstract

Abstract. A lichen inventory of White Rocks Open Space (City of Boulder, CO), a unique outcropping of exposed unstable sandstones, is presented. White Rocks is an ecologically important, ∼40.5-ha (100-acre) protected area whose biological significance is in part attributable to geological and climatological history as well as degree of preservation, but also because it represents a biodiversity reservoir in a sea of agriculture and urban development. This inventory resulted in documentation of 56 species, including 1 new record to the United States, 1 new record to Colorado, 2 species new to science, and 2 additional species potentially new to science pending further study. Several species, though common at White Rocks, are locally rare within Boulder County and the Front Range Mountains of Colorado owing to a paucity of exposed sandstone. Such species instead have affinities to habitats more typical of eastern and far western Colorado, such as the state's high plains and sage-juniper scrub. A checklist o...