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Diversity
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Lichens: Diversity and Biological Activities
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Lichens: Diversity and Biological Activities

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity Conservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 3889

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Leopoldo G. Sancho

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Section of Botany, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: antarctica; biomonitoring; lichens; growth rate; diversity; temperature; precipitation; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Claudia Colesie

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK
Interests: eco-physiology, biochemistry and environmental measurements; polar ecosystems; climate change

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The assessment of diversity facets encompasses many aspects of the biology of lichen symbiosis, and aims to unveil assembly mechanisms and ecosystem processes. First, taxonomic knowledge is continuously being improved by taxonomists, aided by the advancement of the genetic approaches, which offer the most powerful and complementary tools for accurately estimating lichens’ true biodiversity. However, despite the massive increase in molecular research in recent decades, current knowledge on the phylogenetic relationships and evolution of several lichen taxa is still highly fragmentary. On the other hand, the current lack of knowledge surrounding the functional diversity of lichens, characterized by any functional trait, its variability at different scales, and, above all, its ecological significance in extreme environments, is likely to lead to a considerable misunderstanding of lichen-dominated ecosystem function. Global changes, mainly climate change, and associated biodiversity responses require a good knowledge of species physiological optima and tolerances to the environment. If environmental tolerances are not accurately known, it is not possible to fully understand the mechanisms deployed by organisms and their adaptive value. In addition to climate change, some direct impacts of human activity, such as air pollution, eutrophication and forest management, have affected and continue to deeply affect the biodiversity of lichen communities.

Lichens are particularly sensitive to cumulative human impacts on the environment, and can be successfully used as bioindicators of global change. Finally, we also have limited knowledge of the role that biotic interactions and ecological networks play in structuring lichen communities, especially in bryo-lichen competition for space. In this Special Issue, we hope to provide significant advances and updates on some of these crucial topics in the understanding of the diversity and biology of lichen symbioses.

Dr. Leopoldo G. Sancho
Dr. Claudia Colesie
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • lichens
  • diversity
  • taxonomy
  • functional traits
  • ecophysiology
  • biogeography
  • bioindicators

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 2615 KiB  
Article
Resistance of Lichens and Mosses of Regenerated Alpine Communities to Repeated Experimental Trampling in the Belianske Tatras, Northern Slovakia
by Veronika Piscová, Michal Ševčík, Andrej Sedlák, Juraj Hreško, František Petrovič and Terézia Slobodová
Diversity 2023, 15(2), 128; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15020128 - 17 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1296
Abstract
Due to the destruction of alpine ecosystems by extreme human trampling, some alpine areas are closed to tourists. After years of regeneration, a tendency toward reopening these areas for tourism is envisaged. Although numerous studies have documented vegetative responses to trampling disturbance, research [...] Read more.
Due to the destruction of alpine ecosystems by extreme human trampling, some alpine areas are closed to tourists. After years of regeneration, a tendency toward reopening these areas for tourism is envisaged. Although numerous studies have documented vegetative responses to trampling disturbance, research that thoroughly examines the trampling impacts on the vegetation at different organizational levels is often limited. Most of the previous studies on the human disturbance of vegetation focused on the impacts on vascular plants, while the impacts on lichens or mosses are less well-documented. To understand how regenerated communities respond to further trampling disturbance, we repeated the experimental research on short-term trampling after 14 years in three high-altitude communities in the Tatras in northern Slovakia. According to Cole and Bayfield’s protocol, we evaluated the resistance of communities trampled in 2008 and 2022, with a focus on groups of lichens and mosses and their individual species. This research brings new knowledge regarding the different behaviors of regenerated vegetation, especially lichens and mosses, to trampling disturbance. The results show that human trampling in alpine communities has a large negative impact and, therefore, management plans should discourage off-trail hiking and limit recreational activities in sensitive or reopened alpine areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lichens: Diversity and Biological Activities)
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14 pages, 5085 KiB  
Article
Characterizing Crustose Lichen Communities—DNA Metabarcoding Reveals More than Meets the Eye
by Jacob R. Henrie, Brenden M. Thomson, Andrew August Yungfleisch, Michael Kerr and Steven D. Leavitt
Diversity 2022, 14(9), 766; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14090766 - 16 Sep 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2138
Abstract
Biodiversity inventories are important for informing land management strategies, conservation efforts, and for biomonitoring studies. For many organismal groups, including lichens, comprehensive, accurate inventories are challenging due to the necessity of taxonomic expertise, limitations in sampling protocols, and the commonplace occurrence of morphologically [...] Read more.
Biodiversity inventories are important for informing land management strategies, conservation efforts, and for biomonitoring studies. For many organismal groups, including lichens, comprehensive, accurate inventories are challenging due to the necessity of taxonomic expertise, limitations in sampling protocols, and the commonplace occurrence of morphologically cryptic species and other undescribed species. Lichen communities in arid regions are often dominated by crustose lichens, which have been particularly difficult to incorporate into biodiversity inventories. Here, we explore the utility of DNA metabarcoding for characterizing the diversity of lichen-forming fungi at a typical crustose lichen-dominated site on the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern USA. We assessed the consistency of independent sampling efforts to comprehensively document lichen diversity, evaluated the capability of minimally trained technicians to effectively sample the lichen communities, and provide a metagenomic-based inventory of lichen diversity, including representative sequence data, for a diverse, crustose-dominate lichen community on the Colorado Plateau. Our results revealed that crustose lichen communities in the southwestern USA are more diverse than traditionally thought, and community metabarcoding is a promising strategy for characterizing the lichen-forming fungal diversity more thoroughly than other methods. However, consistently sampling the diversity of crustose lichen communities, even at small spatial scales, remains difficult. Interpreting these results within a traditional taxonomic context remains challenging without the use of vouchers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lichens: Diversity and Biological Activities)
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