BIBLIOS

Tipo
Artigos em Revista

Tipo de Documento
Artigo Completo

Título
Differential response of two acidophytic lichens to increased reactive nitrogen availability

Participantes na publicação
Silvana Munzi (Author)
Unidade de I&D e Inovação
CIUHCT
Catarina Graça (Author)
Duarte Martins (Author)
Cristina Máguas (Author)
Dep. Biologia Vegetal
CE3C

Resumo
Lichens are one of the most responsive components of the ecosystem to reactive forms of nitrogen. In this work, we selected the lichen genera Cladonia and Usnea, composed of terricolous and epiphytic lichens respectively, and described as sensitive to nitrogen, to test the effects of different doses of nitrogen on lichen physiological parameters (photobiont and mycobiont vitality, chitin quantification, nitrogen content and stable isotopes analysis). The main objectives were to check if the activation of protective mechanisms could be stimulated in case of chronic stress (low nitrogen increase for prolonged time), and, if so, if a toxicity threshold could be identified above which these mechanisms fail. The two lichen genera were generally affected by prolonged exposure to increased nitrogen availability. However, Cladonia rangiformis was able to maintain physiological functioning at the lowest nitrogen doses used, whereas thalli of Usnea become overwhelmed. Moreover, the mycobiont appeared to be more sensitive than the photobiont responding to lower nitrogen doses. Although only studies of longer duration and testing more nitrogen doses will be able to determine an accurate toxicity threshold, these results give important clues on the use of lichens as biomonitors for the establishment of environmental policies.


Suporte
Biologia

Identificadores da Publicação
ISSN - 1336-9563

Editora
Springer Science and Business Media LLC



Identificadores do Documento
DOI - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-023-01366-x
URL - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-023-01366-x

Identificadores de Qualidade
SCOPUS Q2 (2023) - 3.3 - Plant Science
Web Of Science Q3 (2023) - 1.4 - BIOLOGY

Keywords
Chitin Cladonia Ecophysiology Isotopic signature Toxicity threshold Usnea