A little part of the Andes in the middle of the Chaco: the Polylepis australis forest in central Argentina and the lichen diversity associated

Juan Manuel RODRIGUEZ (Cordoba, Argentinia): The Central Argentina mountain range heights up to 2884 above see level. The landscape is composed of a mosaic of tall tussock grasslands, pasture lands, natu-ral granite outcrops, exposed rock surfaces created by soil erosion, and woodland fragments dominated almost exclusively by the endemic Rosaceae tree Polylepis australis. Recent studies find out, that P. australis woodlands from Central Argenti-na are not belong to the Chaco ecoregion, taking into account the special climate, the species composition, and the high rate of endemism. Lichen communities show among other species groups a gradient between the Chaco and the Andes or Pat-agonia region. I will present new evidence of this patterns taking account recent published studies.