EVERSMAN, SHARON1*, CLIFFORD M. WETMORE2, KATHERINE GLEW3, and JAMES P. BENNETT4. 1Ecology Department, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717-0346; 2Dept. of Plant Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108; 3Biology Department, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA; 4Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin and Biological Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, Madison, WI 53705. - Lichen ecology in Yellowstone National Park.
Three hundred sixty-one species are currently reported from
Yellowstone National Park. We found 72% of the total number of species
in Engelmann spruce forests and 57.1% of the total number in Douglas
fir forests, compared to 41.8% in lodgepole pine sites, including two
talus slopes, and 36.3% in lodgepole/whitebark pine sites; 29.1% of
the species were restricted to the old moist Douglas fir and spruce
forests that have not burned for at least 300 years. Since about 80%
of the forests in Yellowstone National Park are seral and climax
lodgepole pine forests, and 8% are considered moist forests, the
lichen distributions illustrate the importance of the old Douglas fir
and spruce forest sites for lichen diversity in the park. Species with
thalli large enough to identify are beginning to recolonize substrate
burned in the 1988 fires.
Key words: ecology, lichens, Yellowstone National Park