Lichens, the remarkable symbiotic partnerships between fungi and algae, are helping scientists unlock a new understanding of biodiversity in some of North America’s most sensitive forest ecosystems.
An ecological study spearheaded in part by the New York State Museum, spanning the southern Appalachian Mountains, has found that the diversity of native tree species is the strongest predictor of how many lichen species a forest can support.
The research, published in The Bryologist and funded by the National Science Foundation, was co-led by Dr. James Lendemer, curator of botany at the New York State Museum, in collaboration with Drs. Christy McCain, Erin Manzitto-Tripp, and Nolan Kane, scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder.
The study’s authors say the findings underscore that protecting native habitats is key to sustaining the full web of forest life.
Biodiversity is not only crucial in southern regions, but also in ecosystems across New York State. Habitat loss is frequently cited as a driver of species loss.
Lichen Field Research
“Lichens are essential to understanding how forests function,” said Dr. Lendemer. “The results of our study show lichens can demonstrate the ripple effects habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and climate change are causing across New York’s ecosystems.”
The research team conducted intensive fieldwork at 208 forest sites, covering a region larger than the state of Connecticut, and documented over 800 lichen species from more than 16,000 specimens.
The analysis revealed that lichen richness peaks at mid-elevations and sharply declines in areas with greater human disturbance, lower rainfall, colder temperatures, or high levels of sulfur dioxide pollution.
One of the study’s most striking findings is that lichen diversity depends more on the variety of native tree species than on the abundance of physical surfaces for growth, such as tree trunks, rocks, or logs. This points to the importance of living relationships between species as a foundation for biodiversity.
These findings are especially relevant to New York the study’s authors say, where high-elevation spruce-fir forests and lowland hardwood stands host diverse lichen communities that play an active role in air quality monitoring, biodiversity surveys, and forest health assessments.
By identifying the specific environmental and biological drivers of lichen richness, the study strengthens the scientific foundation for using lichens as early-warning indicators of environmental stress and as a gauge of ecosystem resilience.
More broadly, the research extends traditional metrics of ecological health that emphasize forest size or canopy cover, to include native tree diversity and the diversity of symbiotic fungi. To protect biodiversity, land managers must prioritize preserving and restoring native tree diversity, not just dominant or fast-growing species, the authors say.
The full study, “The importance of tree diversity and other abiotic and biotic drivers of lichen species richness in a threatened and mountainous biodiversity hotspot,” can be found here.
Read more about lichen in New York State.
Photo: Smooth lungwort (Ricasolia quercizans) which relies on old-growth forests like those in the Adirondacks (NYS Museum).
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