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Dispersal ecology of the endangered woodland lichen Lobaria pulmonaria in managed hemiboreal forest landscape

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Abstract

Changes in the forest management practices have strongly influenced the distribution of species inhabiting old-growth forests. The epiphytic woodland lichen Lobaria pulmonaria is frequently used as a model species to study the factors affecting the population biology of lichens. We sampled 252 L. pulmonaria individuals from 12 populations representing three woodland types differing in their ecological continuity and management intensity in Estonia. We used eight mycobiont-specific microsatellite loci to quantify genetic diversity among the populations. We calculated the Sørensen distance to estimate genetic dissimilarity among individuals within populations. We revealed that L. pulmonaria populations have significantly higher genetic diversity in old-growth forests than in managed forests and wooded meadows. We detected a significant woodland-type-specific pattern of genetic dissimilarity among neighbouring L. pulmonaria individuals, which suggests that in wooded meadows and managed forests dominating is vegetative reproduction. The vegetative dispersal distance between the host trees of L. pulmonaria was found to be only 15–30 m. Genetic dissimilarity among individuals was also dependent on tree species and trunk diameter. Lobaria pulmonaria populations in managed forests included less juveniles compared to old-growth forests and wooded meadows, indicating that forest management influences life stage structure within populations. We conclude that as intensive stand management reduces the genetic diversity of threatened species in woodland habitats, particular attention should be paid to the preservation of remnant populations in old-growth habitats. Within managed habitats, conservation management should target on maintenance of the stand’s structural diversity and availability of potential host trees.

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Abbreviations

NE:

Northeast

SW:

Southwest

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the administration of the Nigula Nature Reserve for kind help during field work. The Genetic Diversity Centre of ETH Zürich (GDC) provided facilities for data collection. We are grateful to Asko Lõhmus and the anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript. Ester Jaigma is acknowledged for revising the English text of the manuscript. Financial support was received from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF 3100A0-10583 to CS), the Estonian Science Foundation (grants 7878 and 7816), the Ministry of Education and Research of Estonia (targeted financing SF0180012s09 and SF0180153s08), the EEA Financial Mechanism (grant EMP9, 08066N) and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (FIBIR Centre of Excellence).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Lai 40, 51005, Tartu, Estonia

    Inga Jüriado, Jaan Liira & Kaupo Kohv

  2. WSL Swiss Federal Research Institute, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Inga Jüriado, Daniela Csencsics, Ivo Widmer, Carole Adolf & Christoph Scheidegger

  3. Estonian Fond for Nature, Magasini 3, 51005, Tartu, Estonia

    Kaupo Kohv

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  1. Inga Jüriado
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  2. Jaan Liira
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  5. Carole Adolf
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  7. Christoph Scheidegger
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Correspondence to Inga Jüriado.

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Jüriado, I., Liira, J., Csencsics, D. et al. Dispersal ecology of the endangered woodland lichen Lobaria pulmonaria in managed hemiboreal forest landscape. Biodivers Conserv 20, 1803–1819 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0062-8

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