Patterns of β-diversity and similarity reveal biotic homogenization of epiphytic lichen communities associated with the spread of black locust forests

Nascimbene, Juri; Lazzaro, Lorenzo; Benesperi, Renato

doi:10.1016/j.funeco.2014.10.006

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Under these circumstances, depositions of both nitrogen oxides and ammonia, as well as habitat destruction and fragmentation directly impact on species richness [27,28]. The interplay between these drivers caused the historical depauperation of a previously rich and specialized lichen biota that was replaced by a few generalist species which are homogenizing the lichen communities [29,30].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lichen Distribution Patterns in the Ecoregions of Italy

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An outline of the main distribution patterns of lichens in the ecoregions of Italy, accounting for their climatic, geographic, and environmental features, is still missing. On the basis of a GIS-based analysis, we summarized: (1) the main features (e.g., surface, climate, landscape, topographic heterogeneity, bedrock, eutrophication) of the 9 ecoregions adopted in ITALIC, the information system on Italian lichens, and (2) the patterns of richness, functional traits, and ecological requirements of lichens in the ecoregions. Our GIS-based analysis describes for the first time the main features of the 9 ecoregions adopted in ITALIC, highlighting differences which could explain the main lichen patterns. Overall, the exploration of the Italian lichen biota is still a work in progress, some regions being still underexplored, especially in the South, with new taxa being reported every year. Our research could provide a baseline for further advancements in the understanding of species richness and community composition of Italian lichens, at a regional scale.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lichen Distribution Patterns in the Ecoregions of Italy

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Namely, the pool of nationally rare lichens contributes to the distinctiveness of the regional floras, whilst that of common lichens contributes to a floristic homogeneity across regions that is likely driven by human disturbance, as indicated by the high frequency of nitrogen-tolerant species in this group (Nascimbene et al . 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring patterns of commonness and rarity in lichens: a case study from Italy (Southern Europe)

Nimis

Martellos

Spitale³

et al. 2018

The Lichenologist

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper, based on data from the latest checklist of Italy, analyzes the distribution patterns of rare and common lichen species within biogeographically homogeneous versus heterogeneous areas of Italy, and the relationships with some main drivers of rarity and commonness. The following data were used: 1) commonness-rarity values of 2565 species in nine ecoregions; 2) frequency of 353 nationally rare and 387 nationally common species in 21 administrative regions. The following functional and ecological traits were considered: growth form, photobiont(s), type of reproduction, substrata, bioclimatic range, ecological indicator values for aridity and eutrophication, and poleophoby. Within each ecoregion, rare species by far outweigh common species but about one third of these are common in other ecoregions. At the level of regional floras, rarity is significantly associated with epiphytic substrata, non-trebouxioid photobionts and high air humidity, while commonness is associated with saxicolous substrata, trebouxioid photobionts and eutrophication. Rarity seems to mainly depend on two factors, bioclimate (many rare species are outside the limit of their bioclimatic optima) and reduced availability of suitable habitats (e.g. old-growth forests), while commonness is mainly related to disturbance (eutrophication, creation of drier habitats). Most of the nationally rare lichens belong to an oceanic-suboceanic element with tropical affinities or to a small set of continental species with their optima in the dry steppe biome, which suggests that many rare species can persist in microrefugia, that is sites with microclimates that support small populations of species beyond the boundaries of the climatic limits of their main distributions.

show abstract

“…Nascimbene et al . (2015) reported the progressive biological homogenization of highly competitive, nitrogen-tolerant species associated with the spread of alien black locust forests. A similar trend was also observed for epilithic lichen communities in alpine pasturelands as a consequence of increased cattle load (Giordani et al 2014 b ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2002), with few studies assessing beta diversity (Nascimbene et al . 2013, 2015; Giordani et al . 2014 b , 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beta diversity and similarity of lichen communities as a sign of the times

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Currently, change in lichen community structure depends on a combination of several pollutants instead of just one. Consequently, alpha lichen diversity no longer represents an effective response variable for assessing trends in atmospheric pollutants over time. Here we investigated the value of the relationship between alpha diversity and different aspects of gamma diversity (similarity, replacement and differences in richness of species) together with that of beta diversity (calculated as the sum of replacement and difference in richness of species), for assessing complex variations in epiphytic lichen communities in response to a changing pollution scenario. We considered an area subjected to extreme variation in atmospheric pollution in recent decades and explored temporal and spatial aspects of lichen community succession over short-, intermediate- and long-term reference periods. We found that variation in lichen communities for long- and intermediate-term reference periods was strongly dependent on the alpha diversity of single trees at the beginning of the observation period. The occurrence of nitrophytic species, which responded to the decrease in SO2 concentrations, contribute to this trend. The effect of land use was observed only over long observation periods, with trees in urban areas showing less variation than those located in rural areas. In particular, the analysis of similarity, species replacement and differences in richness of tree pairs demonstrated that trends and patterns within lichen communities are neither always nor to the same extent associated with alpha diversity. Our results show that a thorough study of gamma diversity, including beta diversity and similarity, is required to detect changes in air quality in long-term biomonitoring surveys.

show abstract

Patterns of β-diversity and similarity reveal biotic homogenization of epiphytic lichen communities associated with the spread of black locust forests

Cited by 20 publications

References 41 publications

Lichen Distribution Patterns in the Ecoregions of Italy

Lichen Distribution Patterns in the Ecoregions of Italy

Exploring patterns of commonness and rarity in lichens: a case study from Italy (Southern Europe)

Beta diversity and similarity of lichen communities as a sign of the times

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About