Data from: Tracking global change using lichen diversity: towards a global-scale ecological indicator

Lichens have been used to efficiently track major drivers of global change from the local to regional scale since the beginning of the industrial revolution (sulphur dioxide) to the present (nitrogen deposition and climate change). Currently, the challenge is to universalize monitoring methodologies to compare global change drivers’ simultaneous and independent effects on ecosystems and to assess the efficacy of mitigation measures. Because two protocols are now used at a continental scale North America (US) and Europe (EU), it is timely to investigate the compatibility of the interpretation of their outcomes. For the first time, we present an analytical framework to compare the interpretation of data sets coming from these methods utilizing broadly accepted biodiversity metrics, featuring a paired data set from the US Pacific Northwest. The methodologies yielded highly similar interpretation trends between response metrics: taxonomic diversity, functional diversity and community composition shifts in response to two major drivers of global change (nitrogen deposition and climate). A framework was designed to incorporate surrogates of species richness (the most commonly used empirical trend in taxonomic diversity), shifts in species composition (compositional turnover) and metrics of functional diversity (link between community shifts to effects and ecosystem structure and functioning). These metrics are essential to more thoroughly comprehend biodiversity response to global change. Its inclusion in this framework enables future cross-continental analysis of lichen biodiversity change from North America and Europe in response to global change. Future works should focus on developing independent metrics for response to global change drivers, namely climate and pollution, taking us one step closer to a lichen-based global ecological indicator.自工业革命伊始（以二氧化硫为代表的早期全球变化驱动因子）直至今日（研究焦点转向氮沉降与气候变化），地衣已被高效用于从局地到区域尺度追踪全球变化的主要驱动因子。当前面临的核心挑战在于统一监测方法体系，以对比全球变化驱动因子对生态系统的同步独立影响，并评估减缓措施的实施成效。 目前北美（美国）与欧洲（欧盟）已在大陆尺度上采用两套监测方案，此时开展其结果解读兼容性的研究恰逢其时。本研究首次构建了一套分析框架，借助学界广泛认可的生物多样性（biodiversity）指标，对比两套监测方法所产生数据集的解读结果，该框架纳入了来自美国太平洋西北部的配对数据集。 针对全球变化两大驱动因子（氮沉降与气候）的各类响应指标——包括分类多样性（taxonomic diversity）、功能多样性（functional diversity）与群落组成变化——的解读趋势，两套监测方法均呈现出高度一致的结果。本框架纳入了物种丰富度（species richness）的替代指标（分类多样性中最常用的经验趋势）、物种组成变化（组成周转（compositional turnover））以及功能多样性指标（群落变化与生态效应、生态系统结构及功能之间的关联）。这些指标对于全面理解生物多样性对全球变化的响应至关重要。将这些指标纳入本框架，可为未来开展北美与欧洲地衣生物多样性对全球变化响应的跨大陆分析提供支撑。未来研究应聚焦于开发针对全球变化驱动因子（即气候与污染）的独立响应指标，从而进一步推动基于地衣的全球生态指示体系的构建。