The ecology and distribution of lichens in tropical deciduous and evergreen forests of northern Thailand

Abstract

During three years of research on epiphytic lichen communities as indicators of environmental change in northern Thailand plots were set up in a range of forest types between 400 and 1600 m in 1991/2 and revisited in 1993. Other areas were visited in 1993 and collections made in a wider range of geographical, altitudinal and vegetation conditions in Thailand. From this data factors influencing the distribution of lichens in a monsoon climate are outlined and characteristic components of the lichen flora given at family, generic and where possible specific level. Dominant taxa of the montane forests include hygrophilous macrolichens of the ‘Lobarion’ that are also a characteristic component of old growth fagaceous forests in Europe, whereas the evergreen forests are dominated by moisture‐dependent crustose taxa with a trentepohlioid photobiont, and the deciduous dipterocarp forests by often brightly coloured xerophytic lichens with a trebouxioid photobiont. Taxa are proposed as indicators of forest type including those that are indicators of old‐growth forests and of disturbance. Quantitative recording of selected taxa at genus and species level is suggested to estimate rates of change in monsoon forests in southeast Asia.

A comparison of alpha and beta diversity patterns of ferns, bryophytes and macrolichens in tropical montane forests of southern Ecuador

“…Forest structure and microclimate have been identified as principal drivers of diversity of ferns, bryophytes and lichens in tropical forests (Richards 1984;Sipman and Harris 1989;Wolseley and Aguirre-Hudson 1997;Holz and Gradstein 2005;Sporn et al 2009) For terrestrial ferns, in addition, soil characters play an important role (Kluge et al 2006). This is the first study that compares patterns of alpha and beta diversity among mosses, liverworts, ferns, and lichens in a tropical montane forest.…”

Can air humidity and temperature regimes within cloud forest canopies be predicted from bryophyte and lichen cover?

“…Lichens on the 105 other hand grow more plentifully on more exposed sites in the canopy (Pearson 106 1969) where temperatures and light levels are higher. The upper branches in a tree 107 are also much younger, provide less favorable conditions to bryophytes and hence 108 reduce competition from bryophytes (Wolseley and Aguirre-Hudson 1997 shown that the cover of non-vascular epiphytes can vary between different host life-123 forms and species, which is often a result of differences in bark properties and tree 124 height (Wolf 1994). Due to significant logging and farming activities at low elevation 125 sites (>1450 m asl.…”

Efficiency of sampling methods for accurate estimation of species richness of corticolous microlichens in the Atlantic rainforest of northeastern Brazil

“…Several studies suggest that subjective opportunistic sampling by specialists yields less species than objective systematic sampling, such as applying a transect, grid, or stratiWed sampling technique (Gradstein et al 1996;Sipman 1996;Wolf et al 2004;Newmaster et al 2005). A further problem is that even with quantitative sampling, employed in a number of recent studies on tropical lichens (Cornelissen and Ter Steege 1989;Montfoort and Ek 1990;Marcelli 1992;Wolf 1993aWolf -c, 1994Wolf , 1995Biedinger and Fischer 1996;Wolseley and Aguirre-Hudson 1997;Nöske 2004;Nöske and Sipman 2004;Holz and Gradstein 2005), crustose microlichens are often left unidentiWed at the species 1 C level, and thus a signiWcant component of species richness is neglected. One exception is the detailed study of crustose and foliose lichen communities by Komposch and Hafellner (1999, 2002 in Venezuela, which yielded about 300 species for the study site.…”