Influence of time since fire and micro-habitat availability on terricolous lichen communities in black spruce (Picea mariana) boreal forests
- Author:
- Zouaoui S., Boudreault C., Drapeau P. & Bergeron Y.
- Year:
- 2014
- Journal:
- Forests
- Pages:
- 5(11): 2793-2809
- Url:
Terricolous lichens are an important component of boreal forest ecosystems, both
in terms of function and diversity. In this study, we examined the relative contribution of
microhabitat characteristics and time elapsed since the last fire in shaping terricolous lichen
assemblages in boreal forests that are frequently affected by severe stand-replacing fires. We
sampled 12 stands distributed across five age classes (from 43 to >200 years). In each stand,
species cover (%) of all terricolous lichen species and species richness were evaluated within
30 microplots of 1 m2. Our results show that time elapsed since the last fire was the factor
that contributed the most to explaining terricolous lichen abundance and species
composition, and that lichen cover showed a quadratic relationship with stand age. Habitat
variables such as soil characteristics were also important in explaining lichen richness. These
results suggest that the presence of suitable substrates is not sufficient for the conservation of
late-successional terricolous lichen communities in this ecosystem, and that they also need
relatively long periods of times for species dispersal and establishment.
Keywords: Cladonia; terricolous lichens; chronosequence; variation partitioning; old forests;
model averaging.
- Id:
- 25349
- Submitter:
- zdenek
- Post_time:
- Monday, 20 April 2015 14:46