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Acetone-extractable carbon based secondary compounds (CBSCs) were quantified in two epiphytic lichens to study possible effects of external factors (season and aspect) on secondary chemistry and to relate defense investments to biomass growth and changes in specific thallus mass (STM). At the end of four separate annual cycles starting in each of the four seasons, the cyanolichen Lobaria scrobiculata and the cephalolichen Lobaria pulmonaria (green algae as the primary photobiont and with localized Nostoc in internal cephalodia) were monitored in their natural forest habitats and after being transplanted at three contrasting aspects in open sites. Season strongly influenced most CBSCs. Medullary CBSCs in both species were twice as high in summer as in winter. Aspect hardly affected major CBSCs, whereas transplantation from forest to clear-cut slightly reduced these compounds. No major CBSCs in any species showed a trade-off with growth rate. Dry matter- as well as thallus area-based medullary CBSC contents increased with STM. The cortical usnic acid strongly increased with growth rate and followed spatial, but not seasonal variations in light exposure. Maximal CBSC levels during seasons with most herbivores is consistent with the hypothesis inferring that herbivory is a major selective force for CBSCs. Lack of trade-off between growth and defence investments suggests that these two processes do not compete for photosynthates., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study investigates how hydration during light and dark periods influences growth in two epiphytic old forest lichens, the green algal Lobaria pulmonaria and the cyanobacterial L. scrobiculata. The lichens were cultivated in growth chambers for 14 days (200 μmol m(-1) s(-2); 12 h photoperiod) at four temperature regimes (25/20 °C, 21/16 °C, 13/8 °C, and 6/1 °C; day/night temperatures) and two hydration regimes (12 h day-time hydration; 12 h day-time + 12 h night-time hydration). Growth was highly dynamic, showing that short-term growth experiments in growth cabinets have a high, but largely unexplored potential in functional lichen studies. The highest measured growth rates were not far from the maximal dry matter gain estimated from published net photosynthetic CO2 uptake data. For the entire data set, photobiont type, temperature, hydration regime and specific thallus mass accounted for 46.6 % of the variation in relative growth rate (RGR). Both species showed substantially higher relative growth rates based on both biomass (RGR) and thallus area (RTAGR) when they were hydrated day and night compared to hydration in light only. Chronic photoinhibition was substantial in thalli hydrated only during the day time and kept at the highest and lowest temperature regimes, resulting in exponential increases in RGR with increasing maximal PSII efficiency (F v/F m) in both species. However, the depression in F v/F m was stronger for the cyanolichen than for the cephalolichen at extreme temperatures. The growth-stimulating effect of night-time hydration suggests that nocturnal metabolic activity improves recovery of photoinhibition and/or enhances the conversion rate of photosynthates into thallus extension.