Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T22:56:49.926Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Successional changes in epiphytic rainforest lichens: implications for the management of rainforest communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2010

Sharon E. MORLEY  and
Maria GIBSON
Sharon E. MORLEY
Affiliation:
Department of Primary Industries, Knoxfield Centre, PB 15 Ferntree Gully Delivery Centre, VIC, 3156, Australia. Email: sharon.morley@dpi.vic.gov.au Deakin University, Plant Ecology Research Unit, Life and Environmental Sciences, Burwood, Victoria, 3125, Australia.
Maria GIBSON
Affiliation:
Department of Primary Industries, Knoxfield Centre, PB 15 Ferntree Gully Delivery Centre, VIC, 3156, Australia. Email: sharon.morley@dpi.vic.gov.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We explored lichen species richness and patterns of lichen succession on rough barked Nothofagus cunninghamii trees and on smooth barked Atherosperma moschatum trees in cool temperate rainforests in Victoria, Australia. Nothofagus cunninghamii trees from the Yarra Ranges, and A. moschatum trees from Errinundra were ranked into size classes (small, medium, large and extra-large), and differences in species richness and composition were compared between size classes for each tree species. Nothofagus cunninghamii supported a rich lichen flora (108 trees, 52 lichen species), with the largest trees supporting a significantly higher number of species, including many uncommon species. This success was attributed to varying bark texture, stand characteristics and microhabitat variations as the trees age. Atherosperma moschatum supported a comparable number of species (120 trees, 54 lichen species). Indeed on average, this host supported more lichen species than N. cunninghamii. However, successional patterns with increasing girth were not as clear for A. moschatum, possibly due to the more stable microclimate that this smooth barked host provided. Victorian cool temperate rainforests exist primarily as small, often isolated pockets within a sea of Eucalypt-dominated, fire-prone forest. Many are regenerating from past disturbance. We find that protection of Victoria's oldest rainforest pockets is crucial, as they represent sources of rare, potentially threatened lichen species, and may be acting as reservoirs for propagules for nearby ageing rainforests. Indeed, even single, large old trees have conservation importance, as they may provide exceptional microhabitats, not found elsewhere in the regenerating rainforest environment.

Keywords

conservationcool temperate rainforestisland reservoirspecies richnesssuccession
Type
Research Article
Information
The Lichenologist , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , May 2010 , pp. 311 - 321
Copyright
Copyright © British Lichen Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, D. B. & Risser, P. G. (1971) Some factors influencing the frequency of bark lichens in North Central Oklahoma. American Journal of Botany 58: 752–757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashton, D. H. & McRae, R. F. (1970) The distribution of epiphytes on beech (Nothofagus cunninghamii) trees at Mt. Donna Buang, Victoria. Victorian Naturalist 87: 253–261.Google Scholar
Boudreault, C., Gauthier, S. & Bergeron, Y. (2000) Epiphytic lichens and bryophytes on Populus tremuloides along a chronosequence in the southwestern boreal forest of Quebec, Canada. Bryologist 103: 725–738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodo, I. M. (1973) Substrate ecology. In The Lichens (Ahmadjian, V. & Hale, M. E., eds): 401–441. London, New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busby, J. R. & Brown, M. J. (1994) Southern rainforests. In Australian Vegetation (Groves, R. H., ed.): 131–156. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cameron, D. (1992) A portrait of Victorian rainforests: distribution, diversity and definition. In Victoria's Rainforests: Perspectives on Definition, Classification and Management (Gell, P. & Mercer, D., eds): 13 – 79. Melbourne: Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. & Fredeen, A. L. (2004) Lobaria pulmonaria abundance as an indicator of macrolichen diversity in interior cedar-hemlock forests of east-central British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Botany 82: 970–982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands (1987) Victoria's Rainforests: an Overview. Victoria: D.C.F.L.Google Scholar
Eversman, S., Johnson, C. & Gustafson, D. (1987) Vertical distribution of epiphytic lichens on three tree species in Yellowstone National Park. Bryologist 90: 212–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, S. E. (1996) Lichen distribution in cool temperate rainforests of the Baw Baw Range, Central Gippsland, Victoria. Honours Dissertation, Deakin University, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Ford, S. E. (2001) The lichens of Victorian cool temperate rainforests. Ph.D. thesis, Deakin University, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Ford, S., Gibson, M. & Duke, G. (2000) The lichens of Nothofagus cunninghamii-dominated rainforests and Acacia melanoxylon-dominated forests in the Otways, Victoria. Muelleria 14: 17–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gough, L. P. (1975) Cryptogam distributions on Pseudotsuga menziesii and Abies lasiocarpa in the Front Range, Boulder County, Colorado. Bryologist 78: 124–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, M. & Conran, J. G. (1994) Ecology of the corticolous lichens on Pinus radiata at five sites of increasing age near Linton, Victoria, Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 19: 328–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedenås, H. & Ericson, L. (2000) Epiphytic macrolichens as conservation indicators: successional sequence in Populus tremula stands. Biological Conservation 93: 43–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedenås, H. & Hedström, P. (2007) Conservation of epiphytic lichens: significance of remnant aspen (Populus tremula) trees in clear-cuts. Biological Conservation 135: 388–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilmo, O. & Såstad, S. M. (2001) Colonization of old-forest lichens in a young and an old boreal Picea abies forest: an experimental approach. Biological Conservation 102: 251–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, P. W., Hawksworth, D. L. & Rose, F. (1977) Lichen communities in the British Isles - a preliminary conspectus. In Lichen Ecology (Seaward, M. R. D., ed.): 295–414. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Jarman, S. J. & Kantvilas, G. (1995) A Floristic Study of Rainforest Bryophytes and Lichens in Tasmania's Myrtle-Beech Alliance. Canberra: Forestry Tasmania and Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories.Google Scholar
Kalgutker, R. M. & Bird, C. D. (1969) Lichens found on Larix lyallii and Pinus albicaulis in south western Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 47: 627–648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kantvilas, G. (1988) Tasmanian rainforest lichen communities: a preliminary classification. Phytocoenologia 16: 391–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kantvilas, G. (1990) Succession in rainforest lichens. Tasforests 2: 167–171.Google Scholar
Kantvilas, G. (1995) A revised key and checklist for the macrolichens in Tasmanian cool temperate rainforest. Tasforests 7: 93–127.Google Scholar
Kantvilas, G. & Jarman, S. J. (1993) The cryptogamic flora of an isolated rainforest fragment in Tasmania. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 111: 211–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kantvilas, G., James, P. W. & Jarman, S. J. (1985) Macrolichens in Tasmanian rainforests. Lichenologist 17: 67–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kantvilas, G. and Minchin, P. R. (1989) An analysis of epiphytic lichen communities in Tasmanian cool temperate rainforest. Vegetatio 84: 99–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenkel, N. C. & Bradfield, G. E. (1986) Epiphytic vegetation on Acer macrophyllum: a multivariate study of species-habitat relationships. Vegetatio 68: 43–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuusinen, M. (1996) Cyanobacterial macrolichens on Populus tremula as indicators of forest continuity in Finland. Biological Conservation 75: 43–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladd, P. G. (1991) Late Quaternary history of rainforest in Victoria. In The Rainforest Legacy: Australian National Rainforests Study. Volume 3 – Rainforest History, Dynamics and Management (Werren, G. &Kershaw, P., eds): 55-69. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.Google Scholar
Lesica, P., McCune, B., Cooper, S. V. & Hong, W. S. (1991) Differences in lichen and bryophyte communities between old growth and managed second growth forests in the Swan Valley, Montana. Canadian Journal of Botany 69: 1745–1755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Louwhoff, S. (1995) The lichen flora of Mt. Donna Buang Scenic Reserve, Victoria. Master of Applied Science thesis, Deakin University. Melbourne.Google Scholar
Mark, A. F., Scott, G. A. M., Sanderson, F. R. & James, P. W. (1964) Forest succession on landslides above Lake Thomson, Fiordland. New Zealand Journal of Botany 2: 60–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morley, S. E. (née Ford) & Gibson, M. (2004) Cool temperate rainforest lichens of Victoria, Australia: floristics and distribution. Bryologist 107: 62–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peel, B. (1999) Rainforests and Cool Temperate Mixed Forests of Victoria. Melbourne: Department of Natural Resources and Environment.Google Scholar
Pike, L. H., Denison, W. C., Tracy, D. M., Sherwood, M. A. & Rhoades, F. M. (1975) Floristic survey of epiphytic lichens and bryophytes growing on old conifers in Western Oregon. Bryologist 78: 289–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pirintsos, S. A., Diamantopolous, J. & Stamou, G. P. (1995) Analysis of the distribution of epiphytic lichens within homogeneous Fagus sylvatica stands along an altitudinal gradient, Mount Olympus, Greece. Vegetatio 116: 33–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radies, D. N. & Coxson, D. S. (2004) Macrolichen colonisation on 120–140 year old Tsuga heterophylla in wet temperate rainforests of central-interior British Columbia: a comparison of lichen response to even-aged versus old-growth stand structures. Lichenologist 36: 235–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, F. (1974) The epiphytes of oak. In The British Oak; its History and Natural History (Morris, M. G. & Perring, F. H., eds): 250–273. Faringdon, UK: Classey.Google Scholar
Rose, F. (1976) Lichenological indicators of age and environmental continuity in woodlands. In Lichenology: Progress and Problems (Brown, D. H., Hawksworth, D. L., & Bailey, R. H., eds): 279-307.London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Yarranton, G. A. (1972) Distribution and succession of epiphytic lichens on black spruce near Cochrane, Ohio. Bryologist 75: 462–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar