Distribution and importance of the lichen vegetation of the Scottish Highlands

Summary The mountains of the Western Highlands of Scotland support a lichen vegetation that is apparently unique in Europe, and probably the world. This lichen vegetation consists mainly of microlichens and is important both intrinsically, with a number of rare and apparently endemic taxa and communities, and as a major contributor to the botanical biodiversity of the ecosystem. By contrast, the lichen vegetation of the Eastern Highlands, which consists mostly of terricolous macrolichens, is best considered a fragmented, species-poor outlier of that present in Scandinavia and is of national interest only.