Distribution of forest floor lichen communities in the mountainous area of southern Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

Abstract

Forest floor lichens are sensitive to variations in habitat conditions. To understand the distribu- tional patterns of forest floor lichen communities and how habitat factors relate to dominant lichen species composition and diversity, we sampled 240 plots (50 cm×50 cm) in the mountainous area of southern Urumqi, Xinjiang, China. We detected 17 species in total, belonging to 10 genera and 5 families. Cluster analysis and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) showed that plots clustered into four groups: (1) a Cladonia pyxidata + Cladonia cariosa + Cladonia chlorophaea community, including seven species with a total coverage of 19.7%; (2) a Solorina bispora + Cladonia cariosa + Cladonia scabriuscula community, in- cluding 11 species with a total coverage of 21.1%; (3) a Cetraria nivalis + Cladonia pyxidata community, in- cluding three species with a total coverage of 8.1%; and (4) a Peltigera rufescens + P. polydactyla commu- nity, including seven species with the total coverage of 23.83%. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that the species composition and diversity of floor lichens were most strongly influenced by altitude, then forest canopy density and humidity; the distribution patterns of lichen communities were apparently influenced by human disturbance. Variation in lichen communities among different elevations