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Specific Vicariance of Two Primeval Lowland Forest Lichen Indicators

To date, the lichens Chrysothrix candelaris and Varicellaria hemisphaerica have been classified as accurate primeval lowland forest indicators. Both inhabit particularly valuable remnants of oak-hornbeam forests in Europe, but tend toward a specific kind of vicariance on a local scale. The present s...

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Autores principales: Kubiak, Dariusz, Osyczka, Piotr
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5409926/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28204868
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0833-4
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author Kubiak, Dariusz
Osyczka, Piotr
author_facet Kubiak, Dariusz
Osyczka, Piotr
author_sort Kubiak, Dariusz
collection PubMed
description To date, the lichens Chrysothrix candelaris and Varicellaria hemisphaerica have been classified as accurate primeval lowland forest indicators. Both inhabit particularly valuable remnants of oak-hornbeam forests in Europe, but tend toward a specific kind of vicariance on a local scale. The present study was undertaken to determine habitat factors responsible for this phenomenon and verify the indicative and conservation value of these lichens. The main spatial and climatic parameters that, along with forest structure, potentially affect their distribution patterns and abundance were analysed in four complexes with typical oak-hornbeam stands in NE Poland. Fifty plots of 400 m(2) each were chosen for detailed examination of stand structure and epiphytic lichens directly associated with the indicators. The study showed that the localities of the two species barely overlap within the same forest community in a relatively small geographical area. The occurrence of Chrysothrix candelaris depends basically only on microhabitat space provided by old oaks and its role as an indicator of the ecological continuity of habitat is limited. Varicellaria hemisphaerica is not tree specific but a sufficiently high moisture of habitat is essential for the species and it requires forests with high proportion of deciduous trees in a wide landscape scale. Local landscape-level habitat continuity is more important for this species than the current age of forest stand. Regardless of the indicative value, localities of both lichens within oak-hornbeam forests deserve the special protection status since they form unique assemblages of exclusive epiphytes, including those with high conservation value.
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spelling pubmed-54099262017-05-15 Specific Vicariance of Two Primeval Lowland Forest Lichen Indicators Kubiak, Dariusz Osyczka, Piotr Environ Manage Article To date, the lichens Chrysothrix candelaris and Varicellaria hemisphaerica have been classified as accurate primeval lowland forest indicators. Both inhabit particularly valuable remnants of oak-hornbeam forests in Europe, but tend toward a specific kind of vicariance on a local scale. The present study was undertaken to determine habitat factors responsible for this phenomenon and verify the indicative and conservation value of these lichens. The main spatial and climatic parameters that, along with forest structure, potentially affect their distribution patterns and abundance were analysed in four complexes with typical oak-hornbeam stands in NE Poland. Fifty plots of 400 m(2) each were chosen for detailed examination of stand structure and epiphytic lichens directly associated with the indicators. The study showed that the localities of the two species barely overlap within the same forest community in a relatively small geographical area. The occurrence of Chrysothrix candelaris depends basically only on microhabitat space provided by old oaks and its role as an indicator of the ecological continuity of habitat is limited. Varicellaria hemisphaerica is not tree specific but a sufficiently high moisture of habitat is essential for the species and it requires forests with high proportion of deciduous trees in a wide landscape scale. Local landscape-level habitat continuity is more important for this species than the current age of forest stand. Regardless of the indicative value, localities of both lichens within oak-hornbeam forests deserve the special protection status since they form unique assemblages of exclusive epiphytes, including those with high conservation value. Springer US 2017-02-15 2017 /pmc/articles/PMC5409926/ /pubmed/28204868 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0833-4 Text en © The Author(s) 2017 This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Article
Kubiak, Dariusz
Osyczka, Piotr
Specific Vicariance of Two Primeval Lowland Forest Lichen Indicators
title Specific Vicariance of Two Primeval Lowland Forest Lichen Indicators
title_full Specific Vicariance of Two Primeval Lowland Forest Lichen Indicators
title_fullStr Specific Vicariance of Two Primeval Lowland Forest Lichen Indicators
title_full_unstemmed Specific Vicariance of Two Primeval Lowland Forest Lichen Indicators
title_short Specific Vicariance of Two Primeval Lowland Forest Lichen Indicators
title_sort specific vicariance of two primeval lowland forest lichen indicators
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5409926/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28204868
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0833-4
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