Distribution Patterns and Metapopulation Dynamics of Epiphytic Mosses and Lichens

• This thesis examines the relative importance of local conditions, dispersal and dynamics of the trees on epiphyte distribution patterns and colonization-extinction dynamics. Study species are the mosses Orthotrichum speciosum and O. obtusifolium, and the red-listed Neckera pennata. The thesis also includes an attempt to parameterize a model for a lichen metapopulation (Lobaria pulmonaria) in a dynamic landscape, based on only presence/absence data of the epiphyte and its host trees. The results show that epiphyte colonization of trees is affected by both local conditions, and by connectivity to occupied trees. The positive effect of connectivity, implying a restricted dispersal range, was established by both demographic and genetic studies. The important local conditions were tree diameter and vitality, and shade. Local extinctions from trees occurred among small trees with low local epiphyte abundance, but more often, were the results of tree fall.The observed importance of connectivity on epiphyte colonization agrees with the assumptions of the classic metapopulation model. However, the classic metapopulation model assumes that the landscape is static, and that local extinctions occur for stochastic reasons. The dynamics of epiphytes are different. A new conceptual model is therefore suggested, the patch-tracking metapopulation model. It differs from the classic metapopulation model in that it includes dynamics of the patches, and in that local extinctions only occur as patches are destroyed.Simulations of the dynamics of N. pennata showed that its future metapopulation size will be overestimated unless the dynamics of the trees are accounted for. The simulation results further suggest that the dynamics of N. pennata can be characterised by the patch-tracking metapopulation model. The attempt to parameterize the L. pulmonaria metapopulation model showed that more information are required for rigorous parameterization, preferably of the past historic fire regime.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Ecology

plant

metapopulation

model

parameterization

connectivity

dispersal

colonization

extinction

epiphytic

bryophyte

lichen

boreal

fragmentation

Ekologi

Terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecology

Terrestisk, limnisk och marin ekologi

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

dok (subject category)