Lichens of the Šlovický vrch Nature Monument [in Czech with English abstract:] Šlovický vrch Nature Monument (Western Bohemia, Czech Republic) represents protected area established in former military training area. It protects specific environment with dry grasslands and early successional biotopes (with naked soil) endangered by succession of shrubs and trees. The area is typical by shallow soils on specific bedrock (spilite), and also relatively hot and dry climate (especially in last years). … Read more... 

Lichen is a unique symbiotic organism that consists of fungi and photosynthetic algae and or cyanobacteria. They are known for producing a large repository of secondary metabolites, among which depsides and depsidones gain pharmacological interest. This review meticulously examines the anticancer efficacy of lichen-derived depsides and depsidones, with a focus on their chemical composition, biosynthetic pathways, and molecular mechanisms that underpin their antitumor activities across various cancer … Read more... 

With global habitat destruction progressing at an alarming rate, there is an urgent need to understand how species persist in dynamic habitats and how underlying processes influence their spatial distribution. Theories hinge on the principle that individuals of the same species are non-randomly distributed, and recent work emphasizes that community assembly is shaped by a dynamic interplay of deterministic and spatial processes. In epiphytic lichens and bryophytes, environmental filtering and spatial … Read more... 

Biocrusts play a key role in supporting nitrogen (N) cycling and bioavailability in drylands. However, the taxon-specific contribution of biocrust constituents to soil N fixation and bioavailability is far less understood. We measured the composition of soil-associated biocrusts and soil pigment content in a semiarid shrubland from central Spain, and evaluated the potential regulatory capacity of biocrusts, and their forming constituents (mosses, lichens, and cyanobacteria) over the N cycle (storage, … Read more... 

Background: This study aimed to investigate the anticancer effects of lobaric acid (LA), a lichen acid, in MCF-7 cells. Our previous study demonstrated that LA exhibits anticancer effects by triggering apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. However, the relationship between this anticancer effect and the oxidative pathway and apoptosis mechanism has not been explained. In this study, the cytotoxic and anticancer effects of LA on MCF-7 cells were investigated through oxidative stress and thioredoxin system pathways. Methods … Read more...