Lichens in the Arctic play important ecological roles. They also face the threats of increasing fire and shrub and tree expansion, exacerbated or caused by climate change. These forces may lead to changes not only in lichen community composition but also in the abundance, diversity and distribution of lichen functional...
Mat-forming “ground layers” of mosses and lichens often have functional impacts disproportionate to their biomass, and are responsible for sequestering one-third of the world's terrestrial carbon as they regulate water tables, cool soils and inhibit microbial decomposition. Without reliable assessment tools, the potential effects of climate and land use changes...
Because of their unique physiology, lichen communities are highly sensitive to climatic conditions, making them ideal bioindicators for climate change. Southeast and south-central Alaska host diverse and abundant lichen communities and are faced with a more rapidly changing climate than many more southerly latitudes. We develop sensitive lichen-based indicators for...
Rinodina pallidescens is described as a new species, endemic to southern Alaska. Rinodina buckii and R. oregana are discussed in terms of their range extensions and possible phytogeographic histories.
We describe Umbilicaria nodulospora, a distinctive new species occurring on steep rock faces on old lava flows in California and Oregon. The species is unusual among lichenized ascomycetes in consistently having one or two shallowly bulging knobs at one end of each ascospore, suggesting a T, Y, or L shape;...
We investigated habitat attributes related to the occupancy of the globally rare and endangered
epiphytic lichen, Erioderma pedicellatum, in a newly discovered (2009) population center in Denali National
Park and Preserve (DNPP), Alaska. We measured forest, tree and epiphytic lichen community
characteristics on eighty-five systematically selected plots in four study...
Parmelina quercina is a well-studied foliose macro-lichen found on rocks and trees in the Northern Hemisphere. Recent studies support multiple species within P. quercina based on material from Europe, North America and western Asia. The identities of Parmelina quercina s.lat. reported from eastern Asia and Alaska remain unknown. We compared...
Hypogymnia imshaugii is one of the most common, conspicuous and morphologically variable epiphytic lichens of the Pacific coastal states and provinces. The species varies greatly in morphology and chemistry, suggesting multiple closely related species or one or more phenotypically plastic species. We sought to determine whether additional ecologically meaningful species...