Macrolichen Communities Depend on Phorophyte in Conguillío National Park, Chile

Abstract

The community composition of epiphytic macrolichens from two tree species (Araucaria araucana and Nothofagus antarctica) was conducted in temperate forests in the Conguillío National Park, Chile. The composition of lichen biota is influenced by phorophyte species, bark pH, and microclimatic conditions. A total of 31 species of macrolichens were found on A. araucana and N. antarctica. Most of the species showed phorophyte preference, with nine being exclusive to A. araucana and 10 to N. antarctica. The detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) indicated the formation of three communities: one representing macrolichens growing on N. antarctica and two others growing chiefly on A. araucana, either with north or south exposure. More work is needed to study the lichen biota of the forests of the Chilean Andes, which are under multiple threats, including clearing and climate change. In order to counteract such risks to native forests and to the biodiversity of the associated epiphytic lichens, conservation plans should be established that consider the factors that influence the composition of the lichen community.

Desiccation Tolerance of Epiphytic Macrolichens in an Evergreen Temperate Rain Forest (Alerce Costero National Park, Chile)

“…This coincides with different studies that show a pattern through the vertical gradient, in which the number of epiphytes tends to increase from the base of the tree to the canopy [ 11 , 45 , 46 ]. Such a pattern would respond to fluctuating microclimatic conditions throughout the tree [ 47 , 48 , 49 ] and probably reflects a set of ecophysiological requirements necessary to adapt to the environment [ 50 ]. On the other hand, the greatest number of cyanolichens were found in the darkest and most humid areas (A stratum), an association that could turn out to be highly fragile, since shade epiphytes are more sensitive to environmental changes, mainly because they have lower tolerance to photoinhibition when exposed to more sunlight [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ].…”

“…This set of epiphytes has been related to a wide range of substrates, but mainly to higher light intensity [ 5 ]. Thus, lichen colonization responds to a series of conditions determined by the heterogeneity of the microclimate [ 47 , 49 , 56 , 57 ].…”

Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals the Regulatory Mechanism of Color Diversity in Rhododendron pulchrum Sweet (Ericaceae)

“…Data on the contents of anthocyanins and flavonoids were subjected to analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) using SPSS 20.0 software (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA), while graphs were produced using Microsoft Excel (v2013, Microsoft Corp., USA) and Origin 8.0 (Origin Lab Corporation, Northampton, MA, USA) [ 61 ]. Treatment means were presented as the mean ± standard deviations of the mean using the three replicates [ 62 ]. Bioinformatics data were analyzed using R statistical software package in R Studio version 0.99.446 (RStudio, Inc. 2015) [ 63 ].…”