Prolonging the hydration and active metabolism from light periods into nights substantially enhances lichen growth

Abstract

This study investigates how hydration during light and dark periods influences growth in two epiphytic old forest lichens, the green algal Lobariapulmonaria and the cyanobacterial L.scrobiculata. The lichens were cultivated in growth chambers for 14days (200μmolm(-1)s(-2); 12h 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 (12hday-time hydration; 12hday-time+12h 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.