Terrestrial lichen data for Saskatchewan, Canada

Increased fire activity due to climate change may impact the successional dynamics of boreal forests, with important consequences for caribou habitat. Early successional forests have been shown to support lower quantities of caribou forage lichens, but geographic variation in, and controls on, the rates of lichen recovery have been largely unexplored. In this study, we sampled across a broad region in northwestern Canada to compare lichen biomass accumulation in ecoprovinces, including the Saskatchewan Boreal Shield, the Northwest Territories Taiga Shield and Northwest Territories Taiga Plains, divided into North and South. We focused on the most valuable Cladonia species for boreal and barren ground caribou: Cladonia mitis and C. arbuscula, C. rangiferina and C. stygia, C. stellaris and C. uncialis. We developed new allometric equations to estimate lichen biomass from field measurements of lichen cover and height; allometries were consistent among ecoprovinces, suggesting generalizabil...气候变化引发的野火活动加剧，可能会影响北方针叶林的演替动态，进而对驯鹿栖息地产生重要影响。已有研究表明，早期演替森林所能支撑的驯鹿食用地衣生物量更低，但学界目前对地衣恢复速率的地理变异及其调控因素仍鲜有系统探索。本研究在加拿大西北部广袤区域内开展系统采样，对比了不同生态省的地衣生物量积累特征，涵盖萨斯喀彻温北方盾地、西北地区泰加盾地与西北地区泰加平原（上述区域均划分为南北两个片区）。我们聚焦于对北方森林与冻原驯鹿而言最具生态价值的石蕊属（Cladonia）物种，具体包括：米氏石蕊（Cladonia mitis）、矮石蕊（Cladonia arbuscula）、鹿蕊（Cladonia rangiferina）、暗色石蕊（Cladonia stygia）、星石蕊（Cladonia stellaris）以及扇石蕊（Cladonia uncialis）。我们构建了全新的异速生长方程（allometric equation），可通过地衣盖度与高度的野外实测数据估算地衣生物量；各生态省的异速生长模型均保持一致，表明该方法具备普适性……