In the Lecanomics database, registered users can enter data, search and display them in tables or maps. Also the results of examined samples can be reviewed here.
Registration
If you would like to register, please click here:
Forgot password?
If you have forgotten your access data, you can request it to be sent to your e-mail
Who can participate?
Anyone can register in the LECANOMICS portal and follow the progress of the project. Also lichen systematists or phylogeneticists with scientific interest in this genus can register.
Specialists indicate their special fields of interest with the registration. Who believes to have collected a new or interesting, rare Lecanora-Art, can load pictures and data to it into the portal.
Information on the data collected from you can be read
here - and more under
Privacy.
Our website is intended to facilitate communication between all project participants.
Therefore we collect the following data when registering, which are important for the use of the site and the implementation of the project:
(1) Your name,
(2) Your postal address,
(3) Your e-mail address and - when registering as a specialist -
(4) the systematic group you feel competent for.
This data is only used within the project network and is necessary for the following purposes:
We collect names (1) and postal addresses (2) for the purpose of processing loan transactions within the framework of the project. Within the framework of the project, lichen samples are exchanged between collectors, specialists and participating laboratories by post. Loan requests and forms are automatically sent by the system. Therefore, users cannot participate in the project without providing postal addresses.
For each request for a loan, the postal address (2) of the specialist will be sent to the requested user so that he can send the receipt. With the loan request, the specialist agrees to the automatic transmission of the address stored in the system to this user.
If you lend documents to specialists or send them to one of the participating laboratories for DNA sequencing and wish to return your borrowed documents, please provide your postal address to the specialist or the laboratory on the loan form created by the system. The system does not transmit your address data automatically.
If the samples are sent to one of the participating laboratories, your postal address will also be known to the laboratory personnel working on the samples.
As far as users participate in the loan traffic and in the chat, their names (1) are visible in the loan history and in the chat for other users.
E-mail addresses are stored in order to mediate contacts between project participants and to create automatic messages.
Your data will be completely deleted from the system as soon as you delete your account.
facilitating communication between citizen scientists and taxonomists
LECANOMICS - new ways to identify and delimit species of the genus Lecanora
Lichens are fascinating symbioses of fungi and algae with amazing properties. If necessary, they can survive for months without water. When dry, they tolerate cosmic radiation, years of freezing or a bath in acetone. At a closer view, many species are also beautiful. Nevertheless, only a few scientists and amateurs worldwide are interested in them. Consequently, there are still huge gaps in our knowledge. Especially in the case of inconspicuous crustose lichens, we do not even know how many species there are in many regions. Nowadays genetic methods can help to discover new species or to distinguish similar species from each other. Lecanomics is trying to share these new methods with amateurs and scientists around the world so that we can identify and distinguish lichen species more quickly.
What is it all about?
The project focuses on the widespread crustose lichen genus Lecanora with almost 1000 species worldwide. In the last 50 years alone, 250 new species have been added. In this project, we, a consortium of more than 20 specialists and laboratories, want to develop new molecular genetic markers in order to split the genus into more natural units and to study species delimitation together with amateurs and scientists who do not have these methods at their disposal.
Why do we need amateurs?
Amateurs and lichenologists without access to molecular genetic methods are often the first to collect interesting material and find new species. Their collections then often lie in (private) collections for decades before they are scientifically described. The project aims to tear down the wall between amateurs and molecular methods and provide access to these methods for everyone interested in lichen taxonomy. By connecting people and methods, the big problems with the genus Lecanora will be solved faster and more thoroughly than is currently the case.
Who can participate?
Anyone can register in the LECANOMICS portal and follow the progress of the project. Amateurs and lichen systematists or phylogeneticists with scientific interest in the genus Lecanora are particularly encouraged to register.
Specialists indicate their special fields of interest with the registration. If you think you have collected a new or interesting, rare Lecanora species, you should upload images and data to the portal.
What happens then?
The specialists involved are notified by the portal if collections of interest to them have been reported.
They can contact the collector via the portal and/or suggest samples for DNA sequencing.
The collectors will then receive an invitation to send the material to one of the participating laboratories.
As soon as the data is available, collectors and experts are notified and can freely dispose of the data.
They can exchange data via the portal, share data with other cooperation partners or generate additional data.
Interesting collections and results can be discussed in the forum or presented to the public.
The LECANOMICS team can also use the data in larger summary publications.
Anyone who has contributed to the work through collections,
data or analyses will be asked to co-author such publications.
