REVIEW article
Front. Ecol. Evol.
Sec. Biogeography and Macroecology
A review on lichen diversity studies in Northeast Asia
Provisionally accepted
- 1Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
- 2Harbin University, Harbin, China
- 3Institute of Microbiology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- 4Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Botany Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Beijing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The Northeast Asian region is characterized by unique geographical and climatic conditions which harbor a rich diversity of lichens. Lichens in Northeast Asia are understudied as there is a lack of comprehensive studies synthesizing scientific knowledge on this group. This paper compiles a detailed historical overview of lichen research in various countries across Northeast Asia, including China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, the Russian Far East, and Mongolia. The paper summarizes the current state of knowledge as well as future research trajectories on lichens for each country. We describe the inception of lichen research, major publications, key researchers and institutions involved in these studies, and a catalogue of lichens described in each nation.
Keywords: Biodiversity, Checklist, Lichens, Northeast Asia, species distribution
Received: 10 Nov 2025; Accepted: 27 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Li, Li, Dong, Zhou, Wang, Wang, Yang and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
HongFeng Wang
Cheng-Jun Yang
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.