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Spatial distribution of lichens on twigs in remote Siberian silver fir forests indicates changing atmospheric conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2008

T. N. OTNYUKOVA
Affiliation:
V. N. Sukachev’s Institute for Forest Research, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk 660036 Email: [email protected] Federal Siberian University, Svobodniy St., 79, Krasnoyarsk 660049, Russia.
O. P. SEKRETENKO
Affiliation:
V.N. Sukachev’s Institute for Forest Research, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk 660036, Russia.

Abstract:

The distribution of different ecological groups of lichens (acidophytes, ‘nitrophytes’, indifferent species) was compared on 1–24 year-old twigs of Abies sibirica sampled in the ‘pristine’ West Sayan and the polluted East Sayan Mountains (Krasnoyarsk District, South Siberia, Russia) to test their value as indicators of current pollution effects. Bark pH of twigs and bark chemistry (N, S, Ca, Mg, Al, Fe) were measured, and a preliminary estimate of emissions in the Krasnoyarsk District from livestock animal populations was calculated. In both regions, an unusually high twig bark pH and an abnormal species composition for A. sibirica canopy were found (e.g. Physcia aipolia, P. dubia, P. tenella, Phaeophyscia sp., Melanelia exasperatula and Candelariella vitellina), with P. tenella (East Sayan) and M. exasperatula (West Sayan) as dominants. The results confirm that the distribution of lichen species on Abies sibirica twigs is a valuable indicator of current changes in atmospheric conditions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright British Lichen Society 2008

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