POLAR ROCKS: Cryptogam biodiversity from nunataks on Livingston Island

A thorough and exhaustive sampling of lithic cryptogamic flora was conducted in four nunataks located in the South Bay area on Livingston Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica): El Castillo, Napier, Mirador, and McGregor. The species-level identification of the collected lichens, mosses, and endolythic microorganisms will subsequently be performed using both morphological methods and molecular biology techniques. The identified samples will go on to be stored in the MAF Herbarium, located at the Pharmacy Faculty of the Complutense University of Madrid (Madrid, Spain).