Location: Range Management Research
Title: Cliffs support lichen communities unique from nearby forests: Cliff lichensAuthor
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BOGGESS, LAURA - North Carolina State University |
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Harrison, Georgia |
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LENDEMER, JAMES - American Museum Of Natural History |
Submitted to: Basic and Applied Ecology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 11/7/2024 Publication Date: 11/29/2024 Citation: Boggess, L.M., Harrison, G.R., Lendemer, J.C. 2024. Cliffs support lichen communities unique from nearby forests: Cliff lichens. Basic and Applied Ecology. 81:112-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2024.11.003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2024.11.003 Interpretive Summary: Cliffs support rare and important vegetation but are difficult to access and as a result can be excluded from species inventories. Lichens, the dominant vegetation on cliffs, can be challenging to identify and are often left out of biodiversity assessments. This study investigates the diversity of cliffs in the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area in western North Carolina. Specifically, we compared lichen diversity on cliffs to diversity in nearby forests. Our results indicated that the Linville Gorge supported a high lichen diversity even compared to the entire Southern Appalachian Mountains. We observed three species unique to cliffs, and encourage the inclusion of lichens in biodiversity inventories. To support their inclusion, we provide a lichen species checklist. Technical Abstract: Cliffs support rare, endemic, and relict vegetation. However, cliffs are difficult to sample, and rock-dwelling lichens in particular can be difficult to identify, leading to their exclusion from biodiversity studies. This omission results in the underestimation of overall community diversity which leads to gaps in understanding the ecology of cliff lichens. This study addresses a fundamental ecological question: whether cliff lichen communities are distinct from rock-dwelling lichen communities in forests. We compared lichen communities from cliffs in the Linville Gorge (North Carolina, USA; 369 m2 of cliff face at three sites) to rock and soil-dwelling lichen communities in forested plots across the same region (Southern Appalachian Mountains, USA; 198 1-hectare forested plots). Forest plots were analyzed in four groups based on their spatial proximity to the Linville Gorge cliffs. Linville Gorge—an area that comprises 0.0003 percent of the entire study area—supported 104 lichen species on cliffs and 43 rock and soil-dwelling species in forests. In addition, 3 species were unique to cliffs and were not observed elsewhere in the extensive Southern Appalachian lichen dataset. Our results illustrate that cliffs support unique lichen communities which are distinct from rock-dwelling lichen communities in surrounding forests. Two rare species, Canoparmelia alabamensis, and Chrysothrix susquehannensis, are cliff specialists that are locally abundant on the studied cliffs. The high diversity, occurrence of unique species, and presence of rare lichens on cliffs indicate that cliff lichens should be included in biodiversity inventories and stewardship plans. To support this inclusion, we provide the first lichen species list for Linville Gorge. |