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Biomonitoring with lichens on twigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

René LARSEN VILSHOLM ,
Pat A. WOLSELEY ,
Ulrik SØCHTING  and
P. Jim CHIMONIDES
René LARSEN VILSHOLM
Affiliation:
Georgsvej 6, Arnager, 3700 Rønne, Denmark. Email: Ren.Lar.Vil@gmail.com
Pat A. WOLSELEY
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom.
Ulrik SØCHTING
Affiliation:
Biological Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
P. Jim CHIMONIDES
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom.
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Abstract

Two surveys of the lichen and bryophyte flora growing on oak twigs from a Welsh and a Danish locality were compared with additional data on bark pH and % nitrogen in thalli of Hypogymnia physodes. Despite differences in climate and lichen flora, both sites showed a shift in the lichen communities from nitrogen sensitive (nitrophobe) to nitrogen tolerant (nitrophile) species, which was correlated with both increasing bark pH and an increase in total nitrogen in thalli of H. physodes. The floristic survey from Wales was a repetition of a study eight years earlier (Wolseley & Pryor 1999) now showing a loss of nitrophobes in all sites and the appearance of nitrophiles in pasture sites in 2003. This study demonstrates that lichens on twigs can be used as an early warning system to detect a response to changes in land management and nitrogen deposition.

Keywords

bark pHbiomonitorindicator speciesnitrogennitrophobenitrophileoaktwig
Type
Research Article
Information
The Lichenologist , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , March 2009 , pp. 189 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © British Lichen Society 2009

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