Grazing disturbance promotes exotic annual grasses by degrading soil biocrust communities (original) (raw)
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An Important Lichen of Southeastern Montana Rangelands
Journal of Range Management, 1983
The lichen (Parmelia chlorochroa) was most abundant in sagebrush and grassland vegetation associations, less so in the pine, and absent in riparian types. It was significantly associated with drier sites and bare ground. Lichens appear to have value in reducing erosion, as indicators of intensive grazing, and in contributing to the nutrient quality of soils.
The Lichen Flora of the Caliente Field Office Lincoln County, Nevada
Report to the Nevada Bureau of Management, 2019
Lichens form a conspicuous and diverse biota in the Caliente Field Office (CFO). Their varied colors can be seen on the cliffs along the highway through Rainbow Canyon and on boulders and junipers along mountain biking trails. Recently a trail in Cedar City, Utah was even named for its lichens (Miller 2015). Prior to surveys by the authors and colleagues in Great Basin National Park (Carter et al. 2019), no full-scale inventory of lichens had been conducted in the Great Basin Desert. Floristic lichen inventories have been conducted in the Mojave (Knight et al. 2002, Sweat et al. 2004, Jackson et al. 2005, Knudsen et al. 2013, Proulx and St. Clair 2013, Proulx et al. 2016) but this is the first study to survey the lichen flora of the Mojave and Great Basin along an ecotonal gradient. This report and anno- tated checklist are the product of three years of field work carried out in the CFO from 2016 to 2018. Specimens from these surveys are deposited at the Brigham Young University Herbarium of Non-Vas- cular Cryptogams (BRY-C). This work establishes a robust baseline of lichen diversity for the CFO. A total of 361 taxa of lichens, 57 lichenicolous fungi and 3 allied fungi are reported from the field office. Twelve species are new reports for North America (Arthonia hertelii, Ascochyta candelariellicola, Caloplaca teicholyta, Cercidospora melanophthalmae, Endococcus karlstadtensis, Lawalreea lecanorae, Lichenochora epinashii, Lichenostigma gracilis, L. triseptatum, Megaspora rimisorediata, Polycoccum evae and Psorotichia numidella var. flageyna). An additional 56 species of lichens and 46 species of licheni- colous fungi, many probably new to science, are discussed and require further study. This report pro- vides an annotated checklist of the currently documented lichen flora of the Caliente Field Office and Basin and Range National Monument, including distribution, habitat, substrate preferences and conser- vation status for each species. Rare species and habitats are discussed, and detailed notes are provided for species ranked as critically imperiled (S1 rank). This report is accompanied by a field guide that includes photographs and field identification notes for over 180 common lichen species of the Great Basin Desert. The highest diversity of lichens in the CFO is found on high-elevation mountain peaks, especially Highland Peak, which also hosts a diverse, closed canopy, mesic forest of White Fir and actively recruiting Bristlecone Pines. While high-elevation sites are per unit area the richest, Pinyon–Juniper woodlands host the most diverse assemblage of lichen species. The northeastern portion of the Mojave hosts an unusual species assemblage, potentially owing to its location in the ecotone of three floristic regions: Mojave, Great Basin and Colorado Plateau. As evidence mounts demonstrating that the southern Great Basin biota is at high risk of climate change impacts (Bradley 2010, Still and Richardson 2015), of primary interest is whether lichens can be utilized as early-warning bioindicators of climate change (Root et al. 2014). Candidate bioindicator species are presented and preliminary species distribution and local conservation status is given for each species. Further research is required in order to build upon this robust baseline and create a suite of tools useful for land management, including field-testing monitoring methods, and implementing long-term monitoring plots for candidate bioindicator species.
Lichen ecology and diversity of a sagebrush steppe in Oregon: 1977 to the present
North American Fungi
We present a lichen checklist of 141 species from the Lawrence Memorial Grassland Preserve and nearby lands in Wasco County, Oregon, based on collections made in the 1970s and 1990s. Collections include epiphytic, lignicolous, saxicolous, muscicolous, and terricolous species. One of these collections is the type specimen for a recently described species, Placopyrenium conforme. To evaluate differences between collections made in the 1970s and 1990s, taxa are placed in six morphological groups: crustose, foliose, fruticose, squamulose, stratified nitrogen-fixers, and gelatinous nitrogen-fixers. We determined that recent visits to the preserve added a greater proportion of terricolous species to the list than species from other substrates, reflecting developments in the taxonomy and understanding of biological soil crusts over recent decades. The trade-off between smaller-scale study plots that capture accurate species abundance and larger plots that capture more complete species rich...
A Checklist of the Lichens of the Beaver Dam Slope, Washington County, Utah, USA
The lichen flora of the extreme northeastern corner of the Mojave Desert was investigated during the spring of 2009. Collections were made from five sites on the Beaver Dam Slope in Washington Co., Utah, including the privately owned Lytle Ranch Preserve. We have identified 41 lichen-forming fungal species in 23 genera, including 30 saxicolous, 7 terricolous, and 4 corticolous taxa; including, 16 species recorded from Utah for the first time and 10 new records for the Mojave Desert. This study provides a baseline for documenting the distribution of common and sensitive lichen communities along a transition zone between the Mojave Desert, Great Basin, and Colorado Plateau.
The lichens of Great Basin National Park
Lichen communities in many National Parks are diverse and perform essential but often poorly understood ecological roles. However, lichen diversity in many National Parks is poorly characterized. Because of this, limited interpretive resources are currently available. Here we report a preliminary checklist of the lichen species found in Great Basin National Park, White Pine County, Nevada, USA, including 230 species in 84 genera, identified predominantly from recent field surveys. While our study documents an impressive diversity of lichen species in the Park, we anticipate that a significant percentage of the lichen flora remains to be discovered. Our hope is that this preliminary checklist will provide a foundation for additional lichenological research in Great Basin National Park.
2010
Epiphytic lichen communities are established indicators of urbanization. In urban areas, a decrease in species diversity may occur due to increased air pollution, lower moisture levels and habitat alteration. Urban areas often have greater concentrations of air pollutants, which is detrimental to the physiology and growth of some lichen species. The range of sensitivities of lichens to sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone and eutrophication has resulted in the development of biomonitoring programs in European countries and national parks in the western United States. Habitat alteration resulting in the fragmentation of woodlands and lower moisture levels in urban areas may inhibit the dispersal and retard growth of lichens. This report provides an assessment of lichens as bioindicators of urbanization and air pollution in southwestern Pennsylvania and discusses the application of using lichens to monitor the management of urban parks and long-term climate change.
Functional ecology of rare and common epigeic lichens in alvar grasslands
The autecology of rare species can be derived using similarities among functional traits and environmental conditions observed for common species, i.e. we employed the ‘matching analogy approach’ with the analytical scheme ‘common species / driver / trait / driver/rare species’.We addressed the driveretrait relationship for common epigeic lichens of thin-soil calcareous grasslands, which are endangered by cessation of traditional land use. Common lichens were suppressed by encroaching herbs and shrubs, and were supported by ground disturbances. The lichens of open low-productivity alvars are predominantly calciphilous, epibryic, crustose-squamulose, sexually reproducing and contain UV-protective pigments. Lichens of encroached alvars are soil-type generalists, fruticose, reproduce vegetatively and contain herbivore-deterring compounds. Rare lichens resemble the species of open lowproductivity alvars, except their more limited niche space, i.e. they are restricted to arcticalpine habitats. The conservation practices on alvars should support the formation of crustforming communities by suppressing the growth of shrubs and herbs, and by promoting recurrent small-scale soil disturbances.