User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
I am interested in microclimatic factors influencing the preferred habitat of lichens (epiphytes). My first hypothesis relates to light availability and whether aspect, or cardinal direction, of the tree trunk is a predictor of lichen distribution or if it has nothing to do with aspect and only light availability from canopy openings or edge effects. I no longer think aspect is a major factor, for example, Nascimbene et. al (2009) found that species richness increased with tree age and height in open canopied sites with more light availability.
I am also interested in whether lichen abundance differs from deciduous to coniferous trees. The theoretical basis for that idea is that different tree species can have a wide array of bark textures which create microclimates, impacting light and moisture, some lichen species can colonize rough bark better than smooth bark, and the bark itself can have different pH levels attracting different species (Sales et. al, 2016). Though tree type can be a factor, one study has shown that tree age and size (height, branch size) had a positive correlation with epiphyte species richness (Nascimbene, 2009).
I am also interested in the relationship between moss and lichen coverage, where moss and lichen establish, the environmental factors that they are competing for, although I did not hypothesize about this relationship.
Keywords: microclimate, aspect, epiphyte
Nascimbene, J., Marini, L., Motta, R., & Nimis, P. L. (2009). Influence of tree age, tree size and crown structure on lichen communities in mature Alpine spruce forests. Biodiversity and Conservation, 18(6), 1509–1522. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9537-7
Sales, K., Kerr, L., & Gardner, J. (2016). Factors influencing epiphytic moss and lichen distribution within killarney national park. Bioscience Horizons, 9(February), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1093/biohorizons/hzw008
