In the second half of June, researchers from Altai State University carried out a comprehensive expedition to the Bolshoy Tassor Lake State Biological and Soil Reserve (Uglovsky District). The study, led by Evgeny Davydov, a senior researcher at the South Siberian Botanical Garden, focused on protected arid lichen species that inhabit the steppe and desert communities of Altai Krai. Funded by a Russian Science Foundation grant, the project will produce "genetic passports" for rare lichens and provide a scientific foundation for entries in the regional Red Data Book.

"They look like tiny tumbleweeds," said Yulia Storozhenko, a graduate student at the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology, Altai State University. "They often form rounded balls and can be carried by water or wind." In Altai Krai these species occur only in the Bolshoy Tassor Lake Nature Reserve and restricted on gypsum and saline desert soils, forming a genuine relict oasis. Lichens in the desert often take on the colour of the substrate: on clay they appear orange, while on salt flats they look grey. They reproduce by fragmentation—pieces of the thallus break off and disperse by wind and animals.

The scientists examined populations of four migratory lichen species—Circinaria affinis, C. hispida, C. fruticulosa, and Seirophora lacunosa—that are isolated from their main ranges. During the expedition, they recorded each species’ associations with plant communities and assessed population condition, abundance, and density. For the first time in the region, these lichens will be evaluated using the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) rigorous, objective criteria—moving from expert opinion to quantitative, globally recognised standards. Repeating the study nine years after the initial measurements will provide a reliable picture of population dynamics.

To quantify populations, the team established randomly located 1 × 1 m grid plots at each sampling site. Within every cell they counted and measured all migratory lichen thalli and recorded their functional status.

The research is part of the Russian Science Foundation project "Assessment of Population Dynamics and Genetic Certification of the Fungal and Algal Components of Protected Lichen Species in Altai Krai." The work has both conservation and fundamental scientific value. Beyond counting thalli, researchers are undertaking genetic certification in the region for the first time. A lichen is a symbiotic organism composed of a fungal partner (mycobiont) and an algal or cyanobacterial partner (photobiont). Sequencing the DNA of both partners will reveal the genetic diversity within populations and how they respond to environmental change.

"A loss of even a regional population is not simply the disappearance of a species from a locality. It represents a loss of genetic variation," said Evgeny Davydov. "That reduces the species’ ecological resilience. Regional conservation therefore aims to preserve not only species, but their genetic diversity."

Collected thallus fragments have already been delivered to the South Siberian Botanical Garden laboratory for molecular phylogenetic analysis, and the team has begun statistical processing of abundance data. The results will support monitoring of rare species over the next decade and will inform the preparation of a new edition of the Altai Krai Red Data Book.