Species richness and vertical stratification of epiphytic lichens in subtropical primary and secondary forests in southwest China

Li, Su; Liu, Wenyao; Li, Dawen; Song, Liang; Shi, Xiaomei; Lu, Hua-Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.funeco.2015.02.005

Cited by 19 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Lichen biomass, in contrast to species richness [38], was strongly and positively affected by tree diameter and height in these subtropical forests. Large trees offer a larger substrate area and more favorable and diverse microhabitat conditions for lichen colonization [15,17,19,51].…”

Section: Influences Of Forest Type and Host Attributementioning

confidence: 81%

“…Fieldwork was conducted between April 2009 and December 2010. Two sampling methods were used to examine the biomass of epiphytic lichens, and only dominant trees with typical and/or abundant lichen species assemblages within each forest type were selected for sampling [38]. In the PLF and the PBSF, treefalls occurred in the wet-dry season transition (April-May and October-November).…”

Section: Sampling Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since tree height changed significantly among host species and forest types, and tree stratification was less well-defined in those forests with low canopies [38], either sampling method, based only on zone division or tree height, cannot provide an overall comparable description of lichen vertical distribution among forest type and host species. In this study, each tree was, thus, divided into 2-m segments, and the basal trunk (0-2 m) was further divided into 0-0.5, 0.5-1.3, and 1.3-2 m intervals [37], and then schematically divided into six zones: (I) basal trunk, (IIa) lower trunk, (IIb) upper trunk, (IIIa) lower canopy, (IIIb) middle canopy, and (IIIc) upper canopy (modified from Johansson [39] and Cornelissen and ter Steege [40]).…”

Section: Sampling Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, each tree was, thus, divided into 2-m segments, and the basal trunk (0-2 m) was further divided into 0-0.5, 0.5-1.3, and 1.3-2 m intervals [37], and then schematically divided into six zones: (I) basal trunk, (IIa) lower trunk, (IIb) upper trunk, (IIIa) lower canopy, (IIIb) middle canopy, and (IIIc) upper canopy (modified from Johansson [39] and Cornelissen and ter Steege [40]). For a more detailed description of tree sampling and height division, see Li et al [38].…”

Section: Sampling Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cyanolichens contributed the least to total biomass and were restricted to lower zones than chlorolichens were. This result, coupled with the distribution of their species richness [38], indicated that cyanolichens were strongly limited by liquid water, rather than atmospheric water in subtropical forests [1, 53,56]. Photoinhibition caused by high amounts of light also hinders their occurrence in higher zones [57].…”

Section: Vertical Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Liu

Shi

et al. 2017

Forests

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Epiphytic lichens are an important component in subtropical forests and contribute greatly to forest biodiversity and biomass. However, information on epiphytic lichens still remains scarce in forest conservation owing to the difficulty of accessing all canopy layers for direct observation. Here, epiphytic lichens were quantified on 73 whole trees in five forest types in Southwest China to clarify the vertical stratification of their biomass in subtropical forests. Lichen biomass was significantly influenced by forest type and host attributes, varying from 187.11 to 8.55 g•tree −1 among forest types and from 289.81 to <0.01 g•tree −1 among tree species. The vertical stratification of lichen biomass was also determined by forest type, which peaked at the top in primary Lithocarpus forest and middle-aged oak secondary forest and in the middle upper heights in other forests. Overall, the proportion of lichen biomass accounted for 73.17-100.00% of total lichen biomass on branches and 0.00-26.83% on trunks in five forests, and 64.53-100.00% and 0.00-35.47% on eight host species. Seven functional groups showed marked and various responses to tree height between and among forest types. This information improves our understanding of the distribution of epiphytic lichens in forest ecosystems and the promotion of forest management in subtropical China.

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