Microbiota Associated with Paramo Lichens in Colombia

Lichens can survive in almost all terrestrial and aquatic habitats, even on nutrient-poor surfaces such as rocks and bare soil. This makes them ecologically very important in the colonization of environments, in the formation of soil, and in the absorption and release of nutrients, which are used by other organisms such as plants. Lichens are thus of great relevance in environments with extreme variations in daily temperature, nutrient scarcity, acid soils, heavy rains and high ultraviolet radiation such as paramos, also known as alpine tundra, mostly concentrated in Colombian territory which is home to more than 50% of their global extension. This project aimed to characterize the differences in microbiota associated with closely related lichens, under specific environmental conditions such as páramo to determine if species in these genera exhibit a correlation between microbiota and host evolution. Specifically answer: (i) Is there a more divergent microbiota with a greater phylogenetic distance in lichens from Colombian páramos? (ii) Is there a geographic component that determines the assembly of these microbial communities? (iii) Do these microorganisms, due to their metabolic traits, have the potential to enable lichen growth in nutrient-poor environments?