AOBPreview originally published online on October 19, 2007
Annals of Botany 2007 100(7):1537-1545; doi:10.1093/aob/mcm249
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Growth and Nitrogen Relations in the Mat-forming Lichens Stereocaulon paschale and Cladonia stellaris
School of Biology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
* For correspondence. Present address: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Jyväskylä University, PO Box 35, FIN-40014 Jyväskylä University, Finland. E-mail minna-maarit.kytoviita{at}oulu.fi
Received: 10 March 2007 Returned for revision: 20 April 2007 Accepted: 14 August 2007 Published electronically: 19 October 2007
Background and Aims: Mat-forming lichens in the genera Stereocaulon and Cladonia have ecosystem-level effects in northern boreal forests. Yet the factors affecting the productivity of mat-forming lichens are not known. The aim of the presented work was to investigate whether mat-forming lichens adapted to low N availability employ N-conserving mechanisms similar to those of vascular plants in nutrient-poor ecosystems. Specifically, the following questions were asked: (a) Do lichens translocate N from basal areas to apical growth areas? (b) Are the quantities of N translocated of ecological significance. (c) Is lichen growth dependent on tissue N concentration [N].
Methods: Two different, but complementary, field experiments were conducted using the mat-forming N2-fixing Stereocaulon paschale and non-fixing Cladonia stellaris as model species. First, N translocation was investigated by feeding lichens with Na15NO3 either directly to the apex (theoretical sink) or to the basal part (theoretical source) and observing the redistribution of 15N after a growth period. Secondly, growth and variation in [N] in thalli of different lengths was measured after a growth period.
Key Results: 15N fed to lower parts of lichen was translocated towards the growing top, but not vice versa, indicating physiologically dependent translocation that follows a sink–source relationship. In the growth experiment where thalli were cut to different lengths, the significant decrease in [N] in apices of short vs. longer thalli after a growth period is consistent with internal relocation as an ecologically important source of N.
Conclusions: The presented results demonstrate that internal recycling of N occurs in both species investigated and may be ecologically important in these mat-forming lichens under field conditions. The higher nitrogen use efficiency and relative growth rate in C. stellaris in comparison with S. paschale probably enable C. stellaris to dominate the ground cover vegetation in dry boreal coniferous forests under undisturbed conditions.
Key words: Cladonia, Stereocaulon, nitrogen translocation, relative growth rate, nitrogen use efficiency, mat-forming lichens