Talus turnover: A study of the distribution of lichens along elevational gradients

Abstract

Understanding the processes and mechanisms that underlie patterns of species diversity and distribution is a fundamental goal of community ecology. Elevational gradients enable ecologists to tease apart ecological drivers and mechanisms as reflected by distribution patterns. In spite of the considerable effort put forth in examining patterns of diversity along elevational gradients, relatively few studies have looked at lichen distributions along elevational gradients. In our study we aimed to address how lichen distributions vary with elevation. Lichen community surveys were conducted along two elevational gradients of granite talus spanning 600m in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Every 120m between 3170m and 3770m, lichen surveys were conducted for species occupancy, relative abundance, and lichen coverage in addition to covariates. Across all metrics weak correlation and low effect sizes indicated that elevation does not play a considerable role on community assemblage at this scale. This result encourages the consideration of alternative environmental factors driving differential assemblages in lichen communities which have played key roles in like studies. 2

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