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ORIGINAL PAPER
Old trees as a key source of epiphytic lichen persistence
and spatial distribution in mountain Norway spruce
forests
Lucie Zemanova
´
1
•Volodymyr Trotsiuk
2
•Robert C. Morrissey
2
•
Radek Bac
ˇe
2
•Martin Mikola
´s
ˇ
2
•Miroslav Svoboda
2
Received: 1 April 2016 / Revised: 18 March 2017 / Accepted: 30 March 2017 /
Published online: 22 April 2017
ÓSpringer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017
Abstract Habitat loss and fragmentation can negatively impact the persistence of dis-
persal-limited lichen species with narrow niches. Rapid change in microclimate due to
canopy dieback exposes species to additional stressors that may limit their capacity to
survive and colonize. We studied the importance of old trees as micro-refuges and
microclimate stability in maintaining lichen survival and diversity. The study was situated
in mountain Norway spruce (Picea abies) forests of the Gorgany Mountains of the
Ukrainian Carpathian mountain belt. Lichens were collected on 13 circular study plots
(1000 m
2
). Dendrochronological methods were used to reconstruct age structure and
maximum disturbance event history. A linear mixed effects model and general additive
models were used to explain patterns and variability of lichens based on stand age and
disturbance history for each plot. Tree age was the strongest variable influencing lichen
diversity and composition. Recent (\80 years ago) severely disturbed plots were colonized
only by the most common species, however, old trees ([200 years old) that survived the
disturbances served as microrefuges for the habitat-specialized and/or dispersal limited
species, thus epiphytic lichen biodiversity was markedly higher on those plots in com-
parison to plots without any old trees. Most species were able to survive microclimatic
change after disturbances, or recolonize disturbed patches from surrounding old-growth
forests. We concluded that the survival of old trees after disturbances could maintain and/
or recover large portions of epiphytic lichen biodiversity even in altered microclimates.
Communicated by Pradeep Kumar Divakar.
This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Forest and plantation biodiversity.
&Lucie Zemanova
´
zluxie@gmail.com
1
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences,
Kamy
´cka
´1176, 16521 Prague, Czech Republic
2
Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Science, Czech University of Life
Sciences, Kamy
´cka
´1176, 16521 Prague, Czech Republic
123
Biodivers Conserv (2017) 26:1943–1958
DOI 10.1007/s10531-017-1338-4
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