Variation in Ricasolia amplissima (Scop.) De Not. in Norway and Europe – a mere response to climate?

Observations of two apparent phenotypic expressions (morphodemes) of the composite thallus of the lichen-forming ascomycete species Ricasolia amplissima (Scop.) De Not. (formerly Lobaria amplissima (Scop.) Forss.) inspired us to investigate the morphological and genetic variation of the species in Norway. The morphodemes differ in thallus shape and occurrence of apothecia and/or cephalodia, each dominating in climatically different parts of southern Norway. We investigated the morphology of herbarium collections as well as fresh samples from various areas, including localities where the two morphodemes occur together. The nrITS barcode marker was sequenced to investigate the genetic variation along the climatic gradient of the Hardangerfjord area. We also included barcode sequences of specimens from other parts of the world in order to establish if the Norwegian pattern of variation has a wider geographical significance. Results suggest that the genetic variation found in Ricasolia ampl..., To explore the genetic variation of the two morphodemes and to reveal any correlation with the studied morphological traits, we sampled fresh material of R. amplissima at 10 localities (Fig. 2 in the article) with most samples from localities where both morphodemes occurred. Twelve samples were DNA extracted and the ITS amplified and sequenced using standard methods in the DNA Lab, UiB (Øvstedal et al. 2018). In addition eight samples were sequenced within the NorBOL project at the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (www.dnabarcoding.ca). Sequence assembly and manual curation, alignment calculation, and estimation of genetic distances (observed p-distance) were carried out in Geneious Prime 2022.0.2 (Biomatters Inc., CA)., , # Variation in Ricasolia amplissima (Scop.) De Not. in Norway and Europe – a mere response to climate?

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hmgqnk9v6](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hmgqnk9v6)

**Description of the data and file structure**

**File**: Nucleotide_alignment_NOR.txt (Fasta format)

**Description**: This dataset contains the data required to replicate the TCS analysis in Lindblom & Blom  (in press). It is an ITS data set to study genetic variation in *Ricasolia* *amplissima* in Norway. To explore the genetic variation of the two morphodemes and to reveal any correlation with the studied morphological traits, we sampled fresh material of *R*. *amplissima* at 10 localities with most samples from localities where both morphodemes occurred. Twelve samples were DNA extracted and the ITS amplified and sequenced using standard methods in the DNA Lab, UiB (Øvstedal et al. 2018). In addition, eight samples were sequenced within the NorBOL project at the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (...