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Lichens as sessile and slow-growing symbiotic associations have evolved various carbon-based secondary compounds (CBSCs) to mitigate the effects of some stressors in the extreme environments in which they often grow. The mat-forming lichen Cladonia stellaris, an important fodder for reindeer, produces usnic acid in the outermost layer and perlatolic acid in the medulla. Here, we studied effects of simulated global warming on these CBSCs in C. stellaris cultivated in climate chambers with: 1) ambient conditions as control or 2) ambient conditions +4°C. The chambers simulated, at an hourly resolution, an averaged 10-year growing season dynamic from a long-term monitored boreal mire in northern Sweden. After two months of acclimation, +4°C warming in one simulated growing season increased the concentration of usnic acid by 31% compared with ambient conditions, whereas the warming decreased the concentration of perlatolic acid by 14%. Since lichen CBSCs play important roles in ecosystem processes such as lichenivory and decomposition, these changes may profoundly affect lichen-dominated ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in the functional traits of the terricolous lichen Peltigera aphthosa with declining soil fertility during ecosystem retrogression were investigated. A well-documented retrogressive chronosequence of 28 forested islands in northern Sweden that differ greatly in fire history and which spans 5000 years was used. The abundance of cephalodia increased, indicative of higher N2-fixation rates resulting from lower N availability. Thallus δ13C values increased with ageing soils, in line with declining δ13C values of the humus substratum along this gradient. However, δ13C values were also driven by variation in factors that were at least partly independent of soil ageing. As such, δ13C values were mostly related to specific thallus mass (STM), possibly because a higher STM gives a thicker cortical layer and thus greater resistance to CO2 diffusion, leading to higher δ13C values. STM and other measured traits (i.e. thallus N, P, secondary compounds and water-holding capacity) were unresponsive to the gradient, despite these traits being very responsive to the same gradient in epiphytic lichen species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study which investigates whether the palatability to lichenivorous gastropods differs with the two chemical races of Lobaria pulmonaria. It says that high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), online ultraviolet (UV)-spectra , and co-chromatography of norstictic acid were performed. It shows that 28 of the 39 thalli from L. pulmonaria belonged to chemical race I, while all of the chemical race II thalli were less or more grazed.

Gastropod abundance was quantified in forest litter around 33 trees harbouring Lobaria pulmonaria in southern Norway. In total, 1709 snails representing 28 species were found, and the number of snail species strongly increased with the total number of specimens found. Number of snail species, as well as snail abundance, was highest around trees on high pH soils. There was a positive relationship between number of snail specimens and cover of grazing traces on L. pulmonaria, presumably because calcareous soils facilitate both litter dwelling and climbing gastropods. The results suggest that gastropods may limit the distribution of L. pulmonaria in calcareous broad-leaved forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the quantification of intrathalline anatomical layers through the use of gastropod-grazed samples to quantify dry lichen mass per area (DM/A) and water holding capacity (WHC) and estimation of the dry density of the upper and lower parts of the medulla. The author states that gastropods feeding behavior can be used as tools to quantify anatomical layers and lichen structures. He also adds that gastropods are highly specific in their feeding behavior with lichens.

Although the tripartite terricolous lichen Nephroma arcticum is easily accessible to lichenfeeding gastropods, grazing marks are mainly restricted to localized cephalodia with N-fixing Nostoc. We tested if this gastropod preference for cephalodia can be explained by differences in carbon based secondary compounds (CBSCs) in cyanobacterial versus green-algal tissues. CBSCs were nondestructively removed from air-dry thalli by 100% acetone. Compound deficient and control thallus parts were offered to the slug Arion fuscus and grazing preferences were quantified by area measurements in ArcGIS™. The concentrations of CBSCs (phenarctin, usnic acid, nephroarctin and methyl gyrophorate) in thallus parts with and without cephalodia were quantified with HPLC. Compared to purely green-algal parts, cephalodial parts with adjoining fungal tissues contained less defensive compounds, and were preferred by A. fuscus. The cephalodia themselves do not contain any CBSCs. After acetone rinsing, A. fuscus did not discriminate between green-algal and cyanobacterial parts. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that CBSCs in green-algal parts of N. arcticum play a herbivore-defensive role. It is further hypothesized that grazing of cephalodia may lead to N-starvation and reduced growth of N. arcticum thalli in southern portions of its range where lichenivorous gastropods are more abundant. This may play a role in shaping the southern distribution limit of this arctic-boreal lichen species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thalli of Lobaria pulmonaria of different sizes were collected from the trunks of two specimens of Populus tremula. The secondary lichen compounds, stictic, constictic, norstictic, peristictic, cryptostictic and methyl stictic acid were quantified by HPLC and ranked in order of decreasing concentration. There was a highly significant positive correlation between thallus size and the total concentration of secondary compounds, as well as the total content per unit area for specimens from the two sampled trees. According to hypotheses inferring a herbivore deterrent role of secondary lichen compounds, small, juvenile thalli should be more susceptible to herbivores than larger thalli. Thus herbivory might limit survival of young specimens in habitats rich in lichen-feeding molluscs and thereby reduce reproductive success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]