Ecology of Cladonia lichens. I. Preliminary assessment of the ecology of terricolous lichen–moss communities in Ontario and Wisconsin

Abstract

Principal component and Bray and Curtis ordination techniques were used to explore the ecology of lichen–moss ground-layer communities in Ontario and Wisconsin. The Ontario data included thirty-nine 100-m2 stands from a large geographic region; lichen and moss relations along macroscale environmental and successional gradients were considered. Species relations along gradients of moisture and exposure were recognized. The Wisconsin data included one hundred sixty-six 0.5-m2 quadrats from a single site in the Wisconsin Pine Barrens; species relations along microscale environmental gradients were examined. Gradients related to moisture, light, and temperature regimes were recognized. The ordinations provided a graphic display of the ground-layer lichen–moss community ecology and offered a basis for further work on the comparative autoecology of various Cladonia lichens. Cladonia mitis, C. rangiferina, and C. uncialis, the subject of a subsequent paper in this series, were found to be similar in the macroscale but separated in the microscale ordinations.