Piret Lõhmus

• PhD
• University of Tartu

Fungal diversity drives key processes in terrestrial ecosystems, but remains challenging to measure in the field and to monitor over time. In particular, we lack methods capable of describing both the regional biotas and fungal related conservation values, such as habitats for rare and threatened fungi. Environmental DNA (eDNA) could serve this pur...

The globally distributed genus Trichaptum is one of the most species-rich among polypores in terms of hosting other fungi. Among Trichaptum -associates, there is a group of mazaediate lichenized fungi ( Coniocybomycetes , Ascomycota ) that previously had an uncertain phylogenetic position. DNA sequences – mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU), nuclea...

Citizen science has successfully contributed lichen records to air pollution assessments and for detecting biodiversity hotspots, while its potential to survey broad lichen distributions and trends in natural ecosystems is less clear. The main issue is whether non-professional observers would be willing to visit remote areas to record inconspicuous...

A diversity of microhabitats has been suggested to play a key role in mediating the co-occurrence of trees with specific tree-inhabiting biodiversity, which may further influence ecosystem functioning. However, this triple relationship between tree characteristics, tree-related microhabitats (TreMs), and biodiversity has not been described explicit...

Habitat ecology of lichens (lichen-forming fungi) involves diverse adaptations to stressful environments where lichens use specific habitat conditions. Field observations confirm that such habitat ‘preferences’ can vary significantly across species’ distribution ranges, sometimes revealing abrupt changes over short distances. We critically review a...

Living trees are fundamental for boreal forest biodiversity. They contribute to stand structural diversity, which determines the range of habitat niches available for forest-dwelling species. Specific characteristics of living trees, such as species, age, and presence of microhabitats, determine how species utilize trees for food, as nesting places...

Living trees are fundamental for boreal forest biodiversity. They contribute to stand structural diversity, which determines the range of habitat niches available for forest-dwelling species. Specific characteristics of living trees, such as species, age, and presence of microhabitats, determine how species utilize trees for food, as nesting places...

To create more resilient cities, it is important that we understand the effects of the global change drivers in cities. Biodiversity-based ecological indicators (EIs) can be used for this, as biodiversity is the basis of ecosystem structure, composition, and function. In previous studies, lichens have been used as EIs to monitor the effects of glob...

Sixteen species are reported as new for Estonia. Among these species, ten are lichenized and six are lichen-habiting fungi. One lichen-habiting species – Bryostigma molendoi (Heufl. ex Arnold) S.Y. Kondr. & Hur (= Arthonia molendoi (Heufl. ex Arnold) R. Sant.) and one lichenized species – Lecania nylanderiana A. Massal. should be excluded from the...

Protecting habitats for charismatic vertebrates can provide an ‘umbrella’ for less conspicuous organisms, especially when these are threatened by the same processes. However, such a conservation scheme is vulnerable to the extirpation of the focal species. We studied wider biodiversity values in long protected black stork (Ciconia nigra) nest sites...

Understanding the distribution of biodiversity across forest landscapes is a key issue for the spatial planning of conservation management. Obtaining such spatial perspective is challenging because a large part of biodiversity remains hidden to the conventional survey approaches. High-productivity forests are probably the hotspots of hidden biodive...

In August 2019, the Nordic Lichen Society held its bi-annual meeting and excursion in south-western Estonia. The most remarkable findings of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi are recorded herewith, including nine new species (of them two lichenicolous), and one new intraspecific taxon for the country. Full species lists are provided for two notabl...

There is a critical gap in our knowledge about sustainable forest management in order to maintain biodiversity with respect to allocating conservation efforts between production forests and set-asides. Field studies on this question are notably scarce on species-rich, poorly detectable taxon groups. On the basis of forest lichen surveys in Estonia,...

Ecosystem restoration is gaining political and economic support worldwide, but its exact targets and costs often remain unclear. A key issue, both for predicting restoration success and assessing the costs, is the uncertainty of post-restoration development of the ecosystem. A specific combination of uncertainties emerges when ecosystem restoration...

Retention forestry is a silvicultural approach that can achieve both ecological and economic objectives in various forest ecosystems. It builds largely on the assumption that the live trees left unharvested (the main timber cost) effectively support ecological functioning of post-harvest forest. Such effectiveness can be understood as a combination...

Retention of live trees and dead wood structures in clear-cut sites is a common sylviculture measure for biodiversity purposes. We studied lichen assemblages on pine stumps and fine woody debris (FWD) in 16 post-cut (4–6 and 9–11 yr. old) dry boreal pine stands in Latvia to explore what type of substrata and stand-scale characters (e.g., retention...

The second assessment of the threat status of Estonian lichens based on IUCN system was performed in 2019. The main basis for choosing the species to be currently assessed was the list of legally protected lichens and the list of species assigned to the Red List Categories RE–DD in 2008. Species that had been assessed as Least Concern (LC) in 2008...

Finding standard cost-effective methods for monitoring biodiversity is challenging due to trade-offs between survey costs (including expertise), specificity, and range of applicability. These trade-offs cause a lack of comparability among datasets collected by ecologists and conservationists, which is most regrettable in taxonomically demanding wor...

Examples of contrasting forest systems surveyed using the fixed-area-fixed-effort approach and analysed on Fig 1. (PDF)

Data tables of the analyses. (XLSX)

The study sites, their key characteristics and references to the published papers using the polypore data from these sites. (XLSX)

List of taxa collected during nine polypore inventories in French Guiana; and numbers of their voucher specimens in TU fungarium. (XLSX)

Survey methods used in plant and fungal monitoring schemes. (PDF)

The lichenized fungi Cetrelia monachorum, Pelti­ gera castanea and P. occidentalis are reported as new to Estonia after revision of herbarium samples; one further species, Peltigera frippi Holt.-Hartw., must be excluded from the list of Estonian lichens as a misidentification. Ce­ trelia specimens were investigated for lichen substances by thin lay...

Shelterwood (SW) cutting is a silvicultural method for establishing natural tree regeneration. It is considered to be less destructive for forest biodiversity than intensive harvest methods. In boreal forests, bryophytes are an important taxonomic group, but are vulnerable to changes caused by intensive forest management. To date, the effect of SW...

Questions (i) What is the impact of legacy structures on lichen assemblage development up to two decades post‐fire? (ii) How does that impact vary among ecological groups? (iii) Are charcoal‐inhabiting lichen assemblages regionally distinct? Location Hemiboreal pine forests, Estonia, and middle‐boreal pine forests, eastern Finland. Methods We per...

We compared eight Chaenotheca specimens recently found to grow on fruit bodies of Trichaptum abietinum and T. fuscoviolaceum in Estonia with externally similar wood-dwelling Chaenotheca brunneola as well with another Trichaptum-inhabiting species, C. balsamconensis. We analysed their rDNA ITS sequences by means of phylogenetic analyses and five mor...

Suija, A., Suu, A. & Lõhmus, P. 2016. Substrate specificity corresponds to distinct phylogenetic lineages: the case of Chaenotheca brunneola. — Herzogia 29: 355–363. We compared eight Chaenotheca specimens recently found to grow on fruit bodies of Trichaptum abietinum and T. fuscoviolaceum in Estonia with externally similar wood-dwelling Chaenothec...

Ten lichenized fungi are reported as new to Estonia: Atla wheldonii, Bacidia coprodes, Bacidina assulata, Bacidina brandii, Candelariella lutella, Gyalidea fritzei, Piccolia ochrophora, Protoparmelia oleagina, Sclerophora amabilis and Strangospora deplanata. One lichenized fungus, Leptogium subtile, has been reported from Estonia earlier, but all t...

Harvesting stumps and logging residues for energy production may have negative impacts on forest species, especially those associated with dead wood. We assessed the potential impact of biofuel harvest on epiphytic lichens by studying the lichen assemblages on stumps and downed fine woody debris (FWD) of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in clear-cu...

Semi-natural grasslands, among them thin-soil calcareous grasslands (alvars), have great conservation value but have become increasingly rare in Europe. The main threat to alvar grasslands is the encroachment by juniper Juniperus communis and therefore it is usually removed during the restoration practice. Juniper can also be a host plant for many...

To mitigate the negative impact of intensive forest management on biodiversity, several silvicultural measures are used in production forests. We studied the effect of two such treatments, green-tree retention and prescribed burning on epiphytic lichens 11 years after timber harvests in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) dominated forests of middle bore...

We propose that insights to population ecology of lichenised fungi can be efficiently obtained by combining rapid biodiversity surveys, which representatively sample large areas, with intensive studies in selected populations discovered. To illustrate this approach, we compared results from an Estonian rapid survey scheme with an intensive local po...

Four species of lichens and two species of lichenicolous fungi were reported as new to Lithuania: Chaenotheca sphaerocephala, Endophragmiella franconica, Merismatium decolorans, Ochrolechia androgyna, Pertusaria ophthalmiza, Stereocaulon taeniarum. Endophragmiella franconica was reported on a new host - Cladonia co-niocraea. The teleomorph of Abrot...

Artificial drainage (ditching) is widely used to increase timber yield in northern forests. When the drainage systems are maintained, their environmental impacts are likely to accumulate over time and along accompanying management, notably after logging when new forest develops on decayed peat. Our study provides the first comprehensive documentati...

Number of plots occupied by bryophyte species in swamp and drained sites by management type, and their significant habitat preferences according to indicator values. (XLS)

Number of plots occupied by lichens and allied fungi in swamp and drained sites by management type, and their significant habitat preferences according to indicator values. (XLS)

Number of plots occupied by species of vascular understory plants in swamp and drained sites by management type, and significant habitat preferences according to indicator values for herbs and grasses. (XLS)

Means of environmental variables in swamp and drained sites by management type. (XLS)

Number of plots occupied by snail species (no. of individuals in brackets) in swamp and drained sites by management type, and their significant habitat preferences according to indicator values. (XLS)

Significant correlations between biodiversity and environmental factors. (XLS)

The paper reports the results of lichenological investigations in Asveja Regional Park (eastern Lithuania). A large part of the study was performed during the joint 18th Symposium of the Baltic Mycologists and Lichenologists (BMLS) and Nordic Lichen Society (Nordisk Lichenologisk Förening, NLF) meeting on 19-23 September 2011. A list of 259 species...

Lichens comprise a significant part of forest biota, but their diversity patterns are poorly known at medium spatial scales, which are most relevant for management planning. We carried out exhaustive lichen surveys in two 2-ha plots of old, weakly harvested herb-rich forests in Estonia; the field effort exceeded 500 hours for each plot. We recorded...

During the 20th century, large agricultural areas in Eastern Europe became forested after their abandonment. To explore the value of these new forests for biota, we assessed volumes of coarse woody debris (CWD) on random transects in mid-aged (40–75 years old) stands. In mixed and deciduous forests that were not forested in the 1930s, downed tree (...

Appropriate conservation management of old-forest species depends on the causes of their oldforest affinity, which, however, are insufficiently known. Calicioid fungi are often considered old-forest dependent because of their special requirements for microhabitat, microclimate, and stand continuity for at least two tree generations. We demonstrate...

Large uprooted trees are typical old-forest structures that provide distinct microsites for sessile organisms. While the habitat value of treefall pits for plants is relatively well known, the characteristic exposed root-plates of treefall mounds, which may require different management, have received less attention. The aim of the current study was...

Live retention trees are expected to support the recovery of epiphytes in regenerating stands by retaining a part of the populations in cutover sites and receiving propagules from adjacent forests. So far, the research has been focused on immediate post-harvesting mortality caused by microclimatic stress while a broader perspective on epiphyte comm...

According to available published, herbarium and recent inventory data at least 48 (and potentially over 80) species of lichenized and allied fungi can inhabit burnt areas and/or charred wood in Estonia. Most of these are widespread epiphytes and terrestrial lichens but the list also includes all five species considered 'fire-dependent' in Fennoscan...

1. Green-tree retention (GTR) has been suggested as a means to effectively support epiphytic lichen species in managed forests, given the low lichen mortality on retention trees in the short term. However, a long-term perspective requires a physiological understanding of lichen responses to logging. This study compares anatomical, morphological and...

For biodiversity, natural afforestation is generally more favorable than plantation-based afforestation, but the difference may be less important if both methods fail to provide habitats for sensitive old-forest species. Given that some conditions, such as substrates, can be actively restored in new forests, their effect on biodiversity should be s...

Though the habitats and substrata of bryophytes and lichens overlap, their diversity has not been comparatively explored at large scales. We studied lichens and bryophytes on 30 random 2-km transects in a forest landscape in Estonia. For each vegetation type on each transect, large broad-leaved trees, decorticate snags, logs and windthrows were ran...

In 1999 and 2006 the lichen biota was surveyed in two adjacent reserves, the Agusalu Landscape Reserve and the Puhatu Nature Reserve, both located in Ida-Virumaa county, northeastern Estonia. The comprehensive list contains a total of 266 species (208 from Agusalu and 186 from Puhatu), among them 48 rare and 18 protected lichens. The composition of...

Green-tree retention (GTR) on clearcuts is an attempt to mimic natural disturbances and provide habitat for species that are generally absent in clear-cut stands, but its efficacy for sustaining biodiversity is poorly known. We studied (i) the total cover and vitality of lichens and bryophytes on four common tree species in three locations (centre...

The paper presents the results of lichenological investigations during the 16th Symposium of Mycologists and Lichenologists of Baltic States. Fifty three species were recorded; 27 of them are new to Latvia. New lichens are: Absconditella lignicola, Bacidina chloroticula, Biatora helvola, B. ocelliformis, Cladonia norvegica, Collema limosum, Lecanor...

Although 7% of forest land is strictly protected in Estonia, it is unknown whether the reserves and the surrounding timber-production areas provide enough habitat for viable populations of threatened species. We mapped large broad-leaved trees, remnant trees, cavity trees, coarse woody debris (CWD; i.e., logs and snags) and windthrows on randomly l...

[Lists 74 species, with 30 of them new to Estonia: Absconditella celata, A. dellutula, A. sphagnorum, Bacidia adastra, B. caligans, Bacidina chloroticula, Cladonia monomorpha, Dirina massiliensis f. sorediata, Lecanora subcarpinea, Lecidella flavosorediata, Micarea anterior, M. lutulata, M. micrococca, Ramonia aff. nigra, Rinodina degeliana, Theloc...

In this study, we (1) explored the lichen floras of snags and living trees of Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris, Betula pubescens and Alnus glutinosa in the Estonian peatland forests, distinguishing tree species, snags with bark (S1) and snags without bark (S2); (2) measured the availability and characteristics of snags. On average, 42-64 snags ha-1 we...

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Tartu, 2005.