Growth rates of the lichen Lobaria oregana as determined from sequential photographs
- 15 August 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Canadian Science Publishing in Canadian Journal of Botany
- Vol. 55 (16) , 2226-2233
- https://doi.org/10.1139/b77-252
Abstract
The foliose lichen Lobaria oregana (Tuck.) Müll. Arg. is an important nitrogen-fixing component of the canopy epiphyte community in old-growth Douglas fir forests of the Pacific Northwest. This paper presents a non-destructive method for estimating the growth rate (grams per year) for L. oregana thalli of different weights.Photographs were made over a 2-year period of six in situ thalli. From a relationship of the photographic thallus area and weight of these and 31 other thalli, the dry weight of each of the six thalli is estimated through time. A growth rate is computed for each thallus and a relationship between growth rate and initial thallus weight is determined. Growth rate (grams per year) = exp (−0.8581 + 0.8444 (loge initial weight (grams))). The maximum radial growth rate of lobes of L. oregana determined from the photographs (9.4 mm/year) is comparable with rates for similar species.This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Floristic Survey of Epiphytic Lichens and Bryophytes Growing on Old-Growth Conifers in Western OregonThe Bryologist, 1975
- The Measurement of Growth Rates in LichensThe Lichenologist, 1968
- On the Distribution of a Variate Whose Logarithm is Normally DistributedJournal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B: Statistical Methodology, 1941