Edge effects on epiphytic lichens in managed black spruce forests of eastern North America .

QUEBEC (Province); CANADA

Studies the spatial and temporal response of epiphytic lichens (Bryoria spp., Evernia mesomorpha Nyl., and Usnea spp.) to edge effects in conifer forests of northwestern Quebec. Lichen abundance and substrate variables that were sampled; Responses to edge effects that were assessed for short-term and long-term periods; Assessment of the effect of forest fragment size on lichen abundance in forest fragments; effect of distance to edge on mass of E. mesomorpha and Usnea spp that was significant; Lichen mass that was lower compared with the forest interior; Size of forest fragments that had no significant effect in any of the three lichens; Mass of Usnea spp. that was low in the smallest fragments; Results that suggest that the response of epiphytic lichens to edge conditions could be used by forest managers as an indicator in determining the size of remnant stands that should be left to increase the proportion of interior forest habitat in harvested forest landscapes.