| Abstract Detail
Bryological and Lichenological Section/ABLS Will-Wolf, Susan [1], Nelsen, Matthew P. [1], Makholm, Martha M. [2], Trest, Marie T. [1]. Explaining three decades of change in a bark lichen community: pollution vs. land use. FROM a long-term study of how lichen communities on tree trunks respond to a local air pollution source in southern Wisconsin, USA, we found that changes linked to land use are more important here than pollution to explain changes in community composition. Short-term (1974 -78) changes in lichen communities (29 sites, 10 Quercus (black oak group trees/site) were small (avg 1974-78 Sorenson similarity for sites between years is .70), and included subtle but significant shifts in composition related to the local pollution source (1975 startup). In a 2003 resurvey of 24 of the sites, we found that communities had changed much more (avg 1974-2003 Sorenson similarity is .54). Patterns related to local pollution remain; community patterns also now reflect a regional gradient linked to forest fragmentation and correlated with lichen tissue element content. The strongest 1974-2003 shifts are area-wide and unrelated to pollution: reduction in large foliose lichens and sun-loving species of all growth forms, and increases in small foliose lichens and shade-loving species of all growth forms. Lichen communities are more similar to each other in 2003 than they were in 1974 (Sorenson similarities between sites within year .56 in 1974, .62 in 2003, p
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Final project report
1 - University of Wisconsin Madison, Department of Botany, Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706-1381, USA
2 - Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Air Management, 101 S. Webster Street, PO Box 7921, Madison, Wisconsin, 53707-7921, USA
Keywords:
lichens
long-term study
deciduous
vegetation change
air pollution
land use
disturbance
Succession
Temperate forest.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 21-3
Location: 304/Bell Memorial Union
Date: Monday, July 31st, 2006
Time: 2:00 PM
Abstract ID:301 |
