Distributional and ecophysiological study on the Antarctic lichens species pair Usnea antarctica/Usnea aurantiaco-atra

Laguna-Defior, Clara; Pintado, Ana; Green, T. G. Allan; Blanquer, José Manuel; Sancho, Leopoldo G.

doi:10.1007/s00300-015-1832-7

Cited by 24 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Usnea aurantiaco‐atra has a fruticose, erect growth form with many apothecia (Figure c). It contains a trebouxoid green algal photobiont and can be considered to be highly specialized to Antarctic climate conditions (Laguna‐Defior, Pintado, Green, Blanquer, & Sancho, ). Placopsis contortuplicata I. M. Lamb, in contrast to the first two species, grows foliose to effigurate (Figure d) but shares the feature of having cephalodia containing Nostoc as a cyanobiont with S. alpinum .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Antarctic lichens acclimatize to changes in temperature?

Colesie

Büdel

Hurry

et al. 2017

Global Change Biology

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The Antarctic Peninsula, a tundra biome dominated by lichens and bryophytes, is an ecozone undergoing rapid temperature shifts. Such changes may demand a high physiological plasticity of the local lichen species to maintain their role as key drivers in this pristine habitat. This study examines the response of net photosynthesis and respiration to increasing temperatures for three Antarctic lichen species with different ecological response amplitudes. We hypothesize that negative effects caused by increased temperatures can be mitigated by thermal acclimation of respiration and/or photosynthesis. The fully controlled growth chamber experiment simulated intermediate and extreme temperature increases over the time course of 6 weeks. Results showed that, in contrast to our hypothesis, none of the species was able to down-regulate temperature-driven respiratory losses through thermal acclimation of respiration. Instead, severe effects on photobiont vitality demonstrated that temperatures around 15°C mark the upper limit for the two species restricted to the Antarctic, and when mycobiont demands exceeded the photobiont capacity they could not survive within the lichen thallus. In contrast, the widespread lichen species was able to recover its homoeostasis by rapidly increasing net photosynthesis. We conclude that to understand the complete lichen response, acclimation processes of both symbionts, the photo- and the mycobiont, have to be evaluated separately. As a result, we postulate that any acclimation processes in lichen are species-specific. This, together with the high degree of response variability and sensitivity to temperature in different species that co-occur spatially close, complicates any predictions regarding future community composition in the Antarctic. Nevertheless, our results suggest that species with a broad ecological amplitude may be favoured with on-going changes in temperature.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Antarctic lichens acclimatize to changes in temperature?

Colesie

Büdel

Hurry

et al. 2017

Global Change Biology

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“…This is not surprising for two reasons. The optimum temperature for photosynthesis of the investigated Antarctic lichens and mosses is typically between 10 and 17 °C under moderate to high radiation [45][46][47][48], just a little lower than values reported for the Antarctic vascular plants [49]. Air temperature, even in the warmest Antarctic regions, is far below this value, suggesting that photosynthesis in Antarctic vegetation is limited by low temperatures.…”

Section: Predicted Effect Of Increasing Temperature For Different Antmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lichens seem to offer possibilities for future research that could contribute considerably to our understanding of drivers of climate change responses. Although net photosynthetic rates are apparently both low [55] and stable [48] within Antarctica, there is evidence that allocation patterns of recently fixed carbon change from stress toleration to growth. This is a topic that could be developed with single species that span the continent (Umbilicaria decussata) or by comparing several species.…”

Section: Future Possibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antarctic Studies Show Lichens to be Excellent Biomonitors of Climate Change

2019

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Lichens have been used as biomonitors for multiple purposes. They are well-known as air pollution indicators around urban and industrial centers. More recently, several attempts have been made to use lichens as monitors of climate change especially in alpine and polar regions. In this paper, we review the value of saxicolous lichens for monitoring environmental changes in Antarctic regions. The pristine Antarctica offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of climate change along a latitudinal gradient that extends between 62° and 87° S. Both lichen species diversity and thallus growth rate seem to show significant correlations to mean annual temperature for gradients across the continent as well as to short time climate oscillation in the Antarctic Peninsula. Competition interactions appear to be small so that individual thalli develop in balance with environmental conditions and, as a result, can indicate the trends in productivity for discrete time intervals over long periods of time.

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“…Approximately 400 species of lichens reside on dry and rocky surfaces rather than in wet habitats in the Antarctic Peninsula [24]. Members of the lichen genus Usnea are distributed across most dry habitats of Antarctica and have been used to investigate ecophysiology, antioxidant production, and photoinhibition responses and in long-term and short-term monitoring studies [23][24][25][26][27][28]. In U. antarctica, for example, their growth rate is strongly correlated with mean summer temperature changes, and photoinhibitory quenching (qI)-a component of NPQ-mainly works to protect photosystems from high light intensity [23,24,26,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of Ecophysiological Responses of the Antarctic Fruticose Lichen Cladonia borealis Using the PAM Fluorescence System under Natural and Laboratory Conditions

Cho

Choi

Hong

et al. 2020

Plants

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Antarctic lichens have been used as indicators of climate change for decades, but only a few species have been studied. We assessed the photosynthetic performance of the fruticose lichen Cladonia borealis under natural and laboratory conditions using the PAM fluorescence system. Compared to that of sun-adapted Usnea sp., the photosynthetic performance of C. borealis exhibits shade-adapted lichen features, and its chlorophyll fluorescence does not occur during dry days without rain. To understand its desiccation-rehydration responses, we measured changes in the PSII photochemistry in C. borealis under the average light intensity of dawn light and daylight and the desiccating conditions of its natural microclimate. Interestingly, samples under daylight and rapid-desiccation conditions showed a delayed reduction in Fv’/Fm’ and rETRmax, and an increase in Y(II) and Y(NPQ) levels. These results suggest that the photoprotective mechanism of C. borealis depends on sunlight and becomes more efficient with improved desiccation tolerance. Amplicon sequencing revealed that the major photobiont of C. borealis was Asterochloris irregularis, which has not been reported in Antarctica before. Collectively, these results from both field and laboratory could provide a better understanding of specific ecophysiological responses of shade-adapted lichens in the Antarctic region.

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Distributional and ecophysiological study on the Antarctic lichens species pair Usnea antarctica/Usnea aurantiaco-atra

Cited by 24 publications

References 29 publications

Can Antarctic lichens acclimatize to changes in temperature?

Can Antarctic lichens acclimatize to changes in temperature?

Antarctic Studies Show Lichens to be Excellent Biomonitors of Climate Change

Study of Ecophysiological Responses of the Antarctic Fruticose Lichen Cladonia borealis Using the PAM Fluorescence System under Natural and Laboratory Conditions

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