Features of the biomass distribution of epiphytic lichens on scotch pine (Lower Angara Region)

Forest Type and Tree Characteristics Determine the Vertical Distribution of Epiphytic Lichen Biomass in Subtropical Forests

“…Our study showed that epiphytic lichen biomass ranged from 8.55 to 187.11 g•tree −1 in the subtropical Ailao Mountains. These data are low compared with the data from temperate/boreal oak woodland (545 g•tree −1 [12]) and coniferous forests (47-31,300 g•tree −1 [13][14][15][16]18,[22][23][24][25]30]). However, when these data are considered in combination with the host density [37], a crude approximation for lichen stand-level biomass was 71 kg•ha −1 in the PDMF, 150 kg•ha −1 in the PLF, 1105 kg•ha −1 in the MOSF, 862 kg•ha −1 in the PBSF, and 1180 kg•ha −1 in the TGSF, falling within the high range of those reported in hardwoods (100-1800 kg•ha −1 [10,12]), tropical rain forest (7 kg•ha −1 [46]), and coniferous forests (120-4700 kg•ha −1 [10,13,14,17,18,[20][21][22]24,25,47]).…”

“…In the Ailao Mountains, light is a more important driver of epiphytic lichens; the benefits of increased light intensity may exceed the costs of accompanying heat and/or desiccation stress [8,37]. The higher lichen biomass observed in the middle and upper zones concurred with those observed in boreal to temperate forests [13,16,18,20,21,30]. This probably related to the combination of less direct but higher insolation, variable humidity, higher temperature, and larger substrate area, which, together, promote lichen colonization [17][18][19]21,54].…”

“…The vertical stratification is related to a gradient with tree height, which is determined by the interactions among microclimate, microhabitat, and tree architecture [26][27][28][29]. Lichen biomass is more plentiful on branches than on trunks [13,16,18,30]. Different lichen functional groups often have contrasting vertical diversification due to their different sensitivities to light and humidity [14,21,31,32].…”