1. Winter Controls on the Distribution of Arboreal Hair Lichens in the Niwot Ridge Biosphere Reserve Keli Baker Winter Ecology Spring 2013 Mountain Research Station, University of Colorado, Boulder

2. o “Old Man's Beard” o Arboreal hair lichen – Usnea o Conifer substrate o Get most of their winter moisture from winter snow melt (Campbell et al, 2001). o More lichen in subalpine? Background

3. o Question: What is the distribution and abundance of arboreal hair lichens in the area surrounding the MRS and what winter environmental factors affect their distribution? Introduction

4. o Hypothesis: The distribution of the arboreal lichens will be affected by snow depth, tree species, wind exposure, stand density and elevation. o Environmental factors change with elevation: o Precipitation o Temperature (Veblen, 1986) o Tree species and stand density (Veblen, 1986) Possible Winter Controls

5. o Visually measured lichen abundance o Nine 1m x 50m plots o Elevation range: 3,050m (10,000 ft) to 3,200m (10,500 ft) o Developed sale to quantify lichen abundance o Assigned each tree an abundance level from 0 to 4 o Online chi-square calculator comparing: o lichen abundance level frequency o elevation o tree species Methods

6. o Significant correlation between elevation and lichen abundance o p<<0.001 o Chi square: 105.252 o Degrees of Freedom: 16 Results

7. Results o Significant correlation between tree species and abundance o p = 0.00073547 o Chi square: 14.43 o Degrees of Freedom: 2

8. o Significant correlation between tree species and elevation. o p = 0.00256282 o Chi square: 23.7 o Degrees of Freedom: 8 Results

9. o Lichen abundance affected by: o Preceipitation – in general, more at higher elevations o Elevation – microclimate changes o Stand Structure – density, species composition o Lichen prefers subalpine fir o Lichen found mostly in subalpine Discussion

10. o Elevation affects lichen abundance because of micro-environmental changes associated with elevation gradients. o Stand structure effects lichen abundance with more lichen: o On subalpine fir substrate o In denser stands o Lichen abundance is confined mostly to subalpine elevations Conclusion

11. o Gough, L. P. 1973. The distribution of corticolous cryptogams on Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco and Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt. in the Front Range, Boulder County, Colorado. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Colorado, Boulder. o Berryman, S. et al. 2006. Estimating Epiphytic Macrolichen Biomass from Topography, Stand Structure and Lichen Community Data. Journal of Vegetation Science 17: 157-70. Wiley Online Library. 24 Feb. 2009. Web. o Campbell, J. et al. 2001. Canopy Microclimate and Arboreal Lichen Loading in Subalpine Spruce–fir Forest. Canadian Journal of Botany 78: 537-55. NRC Research Press. University of Northern British Columbia, 3 May 2001. Web. DOI: 10.1139/cjb-79-5-537 o Peet, R. 1981. Forest Vegetation of the Colorado Front Range: Composition and Dynamics. Vegetatio 45: 31-75. o Veblen, T. 1986. Age and Size Structure of Subalpine Forests in the Colorado Front Range. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 113: 225-240. Works Cited

12. Preacher, K. J. (2001, April). Calculation for the chi-square test: An interactive calculation tool for chi-square tests of goodness of fit and independence [Computer software]. Available from http://quantpsy.org.