Growth, reproduction, and population structure in four alpine lichens during 240 years of primary colonization

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Botany
• Main Authors: Hestmark, Geir, Skogesal, Olav, Skullerud, Øystein
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2004
• Subjects: Plant Science; Norway; glacier
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b04-068; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b04-068

The increase in thallus diameter and apothecium production, and the population size structure of the saxicolous lichens Umbilicaria cylindrica (L.) Del., Umbilicaria hyperborea (Ach.) Hoffm., Umbilicaria proboscidea (L.) Schrad, and Umbilicaria torrefacta (Lightf.) Schrad, were measured in a chronosequence of 240 years in a glacier foreland in the alpine Jotunheimen National Park in Norway. All four species exhibited a pattern of fast growth in the early decades of their life history, followed by a rapid decrease in growth, slowly approaching a maximum body size. There were clear interspecific differences in initial estimated growth rate, growth period, and maximum size. In all species, apothecium production is strongly correlated with thallus size, but in U. hyperborea the relationship approximates an exponential function, while in the other species the trend is more linear. In U. proboscidea, the slowest to mature, a fairly high proportion of sterile individuals also occur in the higher size classes. There was no observed trade off between growth and reproduction. Quite the contrary: the species that grow faster also start to reproduce abundantly and early. The relatively slow growth and reproductive maturation of the species implies that a population of 40- to 50-year-old individual thalli is still a population consisting mainly of immigrants. The population size structure of all four species remains strongly skewed during the entire chronosequence, with a predominance of small thalli.Key words: plant life histories, lichen growth rates, size structure, Umbilicaria.