Lichens in old-growth and managed mountain spruce forests in the Czech Republic: assessment of biodiversity, functional traits and bioindicators

Abstract

Natural spruce forests are restricted to the highest mountain ranges in the Czech Republic. Spruce is also the commonest tree species in managed forests. Owing to a massive decline of spruce forests in Central Europe, caused by recent climatic fluctuations and disturbances, the lichen diversity and species composition was compared between ten representative natural mountain old-growth forests in the Czech Republic and their counterparts in mature managed forests. The old-growth forests are characterized by a higher species richness, abundance, number of Red-listed species, functional, taxonomic and phylogenetic diversities. Plots with the highest species richness are situated in the Sumava Mountains, an area with a relatively low sulphur deposition in the past. Bioindication analysis searching for lichen indicators supported several species (e.g. Xylographa vitiligo, Chaenotheca sphaerocephala) and genera (e.g. Calicium, Xylographa) with a strong preference for old-growth forests. Analysis of lichen functional traits revealed a higher abundance of species with a vegetative reproduction in managed forests that may be explained by a higher efficiency in colonization by young successional stages. Lichens with stalked apothecia, pigmented ascospores and large ascospores are more frequent in old-growth forests. Our results are briefly discussed in terms of nature conservation, focusing on national refugees of old-growth forest species, biodiversity hot-spots, practical use of indicator species and representative measures for an evaluation of forest quality.