TY - JOUR N2 - Usnea aurantiaco-atra is the dominant flora around King George Island, Antarctica, whose specimens exhibited various phenotypes, even for those with the same ITS sequences in both mycobiont and photobiont. A comprehensive analysis of morphological traits of U. aurantiaco-atra including the reproductive structures, growth forms and ornamentation, cross section of the branches, and the substratum was carried out. Four arbitrary groups were identified based on their reproductive characters, but these groups cannot be distinguished from molecular phylogenetic trees based on fungal or algal ITS sequences. Further, the complicated morphological diversity of the thalli with the same ITS haplotypes in both mycobiont and photobiont suggest that some other factors in addition to the symbionts could influence the morphology of lichens. This implies that lichen is indeed a complex-mini-ecosystem rather than a dual symbiotic association of fungus and alga. Also, a lichenous fungi Phacopsis sp. was identified based on its anatomical characters and ITS sequence, which was also responsible for the black burls-like structures on U. aurantiaco-atra. L1 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/103315/PDF/Polish%20Polar%202-18%205-S.Cao%20i%20in..pdf L2 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/103315 PY - 2018 IS - No 2 EP - 328 KW - Antarctic KW - lichens KW - symbiont KW - ITS KW - molecular phylogeny KW - morphology KW - anatomy A1 - Cao, Shunan A1 - Zheng, Hongyuan A1 - Cao, Yunshu A1 - Liu, Chuanpeng A1 - Zhu, Lingxiang A1 - Peng, Fang A1 - Zhou, Qiming PB - Polish Academy of Sciences PB - Committee on Polar Research VL - vol. 39 DA - 2018.06.15 T1 - Morphological differentiation and phylogenetic homogeneity in Usnea aurantiaco-atra reveal the complexity of lichen symbiosis SP - 313 UR - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/103315 T2 - Polish Polar Research ER -