Elevational gradients of terricolous lichen species richness in the Western Himalaya

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 1155-1174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Himanshu Rai ◽  
Roshni Khare ◽  
Chitra Bahadur Baniya ◽  
Dalip Kumar Upreti ◽  
Rajan Kumar Gupta
2018 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Maciejowski ◽  
Piotr Osyczka ◽  
Jerzy Smykla ◽  
Wiesław Ziaja ◽  
Krzysztof Ostafin ◽  
...  

The diversity and distribution of lichen species were investigated in recently deglaciated areas of the borderland between Sørkapp Land and Torell Land (southeastern Spitsbergen, Svalbard). A total of 15 sites representing various habitat types specific to the area were evaluated. Sampling sites were characterized by a very diverse composition of lichens and species richness ranging from as few as two species to as many as 53. None of the species was ubiquitous among the investigated sampling sites; conversely, most were recorded only once or twice indicating a high heterogeneity in species distribution. Eighty species are reported for the first time from southeastern Spitsbergen. The terricolous lichen <em>Verrucaria xyloxena</em> is reported for the first time from the Svalbard archipelago. The influence of the selected abiotic and biotic environmental factors on the occurrences and distributions of lichen species is discussed in this paper.


Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 170
Author(s):  
Gladys N. Benitez ◽  
Glenn D. Aguilar ◽  
Dan Blanchon

The spatial distribution of corticolous lichens on the iconic New Zealand pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) tree was investigated from a survey of urban parks and forests across the city of Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand. Lichens were identified from ten randomly selected trees at 20 sampling sites, with 10 sites classified as coastal and another 10 as inland sites. Lichen data were correlated with distance from sea, distance from major roads, distance from native forests, mean tree DBH (diameter at breast height) and the seven-year average of measured NO2 over the area. A total of 33 lichen species were found with coastal sites harboring significantly higher average lichen species per tree as well as higher site species richness. We found mild hotspots in two sites for average lichen species per tree and another two separate sites for species richness, with all hotspots at the coast. A positive correlation between lichen species richness and DBH was found. Sites in coastal locations were more similar to each other in terms of lichen community composition than they were to adjacent inland sites and some species were only found at coastal sites. The average number of lichen species per tree was negatively correlated with distance from the coast, suggesting that the characteristic lichen flora found on pōhutukawa may be reliant on coastal microclimates. There were no correlations with distance from major roads, and a slight positive correlation between NO2 levels and average lichen species per tree.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Tilk ◽  
Katri Ots ◽  
Tea Tullus ◽  
Malle Mandre

Abstract To investigate the ecosystems on dunes, five typical dunes were selected in the coastal area of the Baltic Sea in southwest Estonia. To study ground vegetation species richness, species composition and horizontal structure, 251 quadrats of 1 m2 in size were established and descriptions of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichen species were provided. Topographical factors, soil horizons, soil pH and electrical conductivity, soil nutrients, soil moisture conditions and light conditions were determined. In total, 42 vascular plant, 43 bryophyte and 48 lichen species were recorded on five dunes. Vascular plant species richness and composition on forested dunes was dependent on the absolute dune height, zone and aspect of the slope, soil nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus content, soil pH and moisture, the cover of the bryophyte-lichen layer and light conditions. Regarding bryophyte and lichen layer species composition, important factors were the aspect of the dune, vascular plant species cover, light conditions, the thickness of the moderately decomposed organic soil horizon, soil pH, electrical conductivity and volumetric water content. Lichen species richness was highest on the slopes of the dunes, while bryophyte species richness was higher at the bottoms and decreased towards the tops of the dunes. Ground vegetation species richness and species’ horizontal and vertical structure on forested dunes were highly dependent on topography-induced differences, aspect, height and zone of the dunes. The most important factors controlling the complex of ground vegetation were light conditions, soil water content, thickness of the moderately decomposed litter layer and soil potassium and calcium content.


2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 154-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.U. Akpinar ◽  
S. Ozturk ◽  
M. Sinirtas

This paper is aimed to investigate the effects of some terricolous lichens on soil bacteria’s growth in natural conditions. It is focused on species of bacteria and also on numbers of colony of soil specimens that were taken from substrates of three different terricolous lichen species. <I>Peltigera rufescens</I> (Weiss) Humb., which has not secondary metabolites, did not show an inhibition effect on soil bacteria. However, <I>Peltigera neckerii</I> Hepp ex Müll. Arg., which has secondary metabolites, has a negative effect on soil bacteria’s growth. Besides, it was observed that<I> Cladonia rangiformis</I> Hoffm., which has many kinds of secondary metabolites, has the highest inhibition effect among the studied species. For this reason, we think that in the next researches, it is convenient to investigate elaborately by soil analysis the effect of lichen’s secondary metabolites that have an effect on soil mineralization, on soil bacteria’s growth.


2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chitra Bahadur BANIYA ◽  
Torstein SOLHØY ◽  
Yngvar GAUSLAA ◽  
Michael W. PALMER

AbstractThis study of elevation gradients of lichen species richness in Nepal aimed to compare distribution patterns of different life-forms, substratum affinities, photobiont types, and Nepalese endemism. Distribution patterns of lichens were compared with elevational patterns shown by a wide range of taxonomic groups of plants along the Nepalese Himalayan elevational gradient between 200–7400m. We used published data on the elevation records of 525 Nepalese lichen species to interpolate presence between the maximum and minimum recorded elevations, thereby giving estimates of lichen species richness at each 100-m elevational band. The observed patterns were compared with previously published patterns for other taxonomic groups. The total number of lichens as well as the number of endemic species (55 spp.) showed humped relationships with elevation. Their highest richness was observed between 3100–3400 and 4000–4100m, respectively. Almost 33% of the total lichens and 53% of the endemic species occurred above the treeline (>4300m). Non-endemic richness had the same response as the total richness. All growth forms showed a unimodal relationship of richness with elevation, with crustose lichens having a peak at higher elevations (4100–4200m) than fruticose and foliose lichens. Algal and cyanobacterial lichen richness, as well as corticolous lichen richness, all exhibited unimodal patterns, whereas saxicolous and terricolous lichen richness exhibited slightly bimodal relationships with elevation. The highest lichen richness at mid altitudes concurred with the highest diversity of ecological niches in terms of spatial heterogeneity in rainfall, temperature, cloud formation, as well as high phorophyte abundance and diversity implying large variation in bark roughness, moisture retention capacity, and pH. The slightly bimodal distributions of saxicolous and terricolous lichens were depressed at the elevational maximum of corticolous lichens.


2010 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon E. MORLEY ◽  
Maria GIBSON

AbstractWe explored lichen species richness and patterns of lichen succession on rough barked Nothofagus cunninghamii trees and on smooth barked Atherosperma moschatum trees in cool temperate rainforests in Victoria, Australia. Nothofagus cunninghamii trees from the Yarra Ranges, and A. moschatum trees from Errinundra were ranked into size classes (small, medium, large and extra-large), and differences in species richness and composition were compared between size classes for each tree species. Nothofagus cunninghamii supported a rich lichen flora (108 trees, 52 lichen species), with the largest trees supporting a significantly higher number of species, including many uncommon species. This success was attributed to varying bark texture, stand characteristics and microhabitat variations as the trees age. Atherosperma moschatum supported a comparable number of species (120 trees, 54 lichen species). Indeed on average, this host supported more lichen species than N. cunninghamii. However, successional patterns with increasing girth were not as clear for A. moschatum, possibly due to the more stable microclimate that this smooth barked host provided. Victorian cool temperate rainforests exist primarily as small, often isolated pockets within a sea of Eucalypt-dominated, fire-prone forest. Many are regenerating from past disturbance. We find that protection of Victoria's oldest rainforest pockets is crucial, as they represent sources of rare, potentially threatened lichen species, and may be acting as reservoirs for propagules for nearby ageing rainforests. Indeed, even single, large old trees have conservation importance, as they may provide exceptional microhabitats, not found elsewhere in the regenerating rainforest environment.


2014 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 47-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Kelly Gomes da Silva ◽  
Sérgio de Faria Lopes ◽  
Luiz Carlos Serramo Lopez ◽  
José Iranildo Miranda de Melo ◽  
Dilma Maria de Brito Melo Trovão

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1558) ◽  
pp. 3695-3707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert K. Colwell ◽  
Thiago F. Rangel

Quaternary glacial–interglacial cycles repeatedly forced thermal zones up and down the slopes of mountains, at all latitudes. Although no one doubts that these temperature cycles have left their signature on contemporary patterns of geography and phylogeny, the relative roles of ecology and evolution are not well understood, especially for the tropics. To explore key mechanisms and their interactions in the context of chance events, we constructed a geographical range-based, stochastic simulation model that incorporates speciation, anagenetic evolution, niche conservatism, range shifts and extinctions under late Quaternary temperature cycles along tropical elevational gradients. In the model, elevational patterns of species richness arise from the differential survival of founder lineages, consolidated by speciation and the inheritance of thermal niche characteristics. The model yields a surprisingly rich variety of realistic patterns of phylogeny and biogeography, including close matches to a variety of contemporary elevational richness profiles from an elevational transect in Costa Rica. Mountaintop extinctions during interglacials and lowland extinctions at glacial maxima favour mid-elevation lineages, especially under the constraints of niche conservatism. Asymmetry in temperature (greater duration of glacial than of interglacial episodes) and in lateral area (greater land area at low than at high elevations) have opposing effects on lowland extinctions and the elevational pattern of species richness in the model—and perhaps in nature, as well.


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