Erioderma pedicellatum
Encyclopedia
Erioderma pedicellatum is a medium-sized, foliose lichen
in the family Pannariaceae
, commonly called boreal felt lichen because of its fuzzy appearance. It grows on trees in damp boreal
forests along the Atlantic coast, as well as on the Pacific coast of Alaska
. It is currently one of the most endangered lichens in the world.
by lacking soredia, and by having small, reddish-brown apothecia on its upper surface.
, Canada, by William Gilson Farlow
. It was originally identified as a species of Pannaria
and named P. pedicellata by French botanist Auguste-Marie Hue. It remained in this genus until 1972 when it was reexamined by the Norwegian botanist Per Magnus Jørgensen and placed in the genus Erioderma
as E. pedicellatum. It is an unusual species within that genus, both because of its laminal apothecia (lacking in other Erioderma) and its boreal distribution. Erioderma pedicellatum has also been incorrectly called E. boreale.
, Nova Scotia
, and Newfoundland
in Atlantic Canada
. Very recently, a small population was discovered in Denali area of Alaska, increasing the known range of the species. It has disappeared from both Norway and Sweden and most areas of Atlantic Canada. It is no longer found in New Brunswick, and as of 2009 there were less than 200 individuals known in Nova Scotia. The remaining habitat in Newfoundland is therefore critical for the global survival of this species. Lockyer's Waters and Hall’s Gullies on the Avalon Peninsula
in the southeast of Newfoundland, as well as Bay d'Espoir in the south, are three of the province's most prolific rare lichen habitats and are important for the conservation of Erioderma pedicellatum.
This lichen grows on the mossy trunks and branches of trees on slopes in areas that have a constant supply of moisture and are rich in Sphagnum
moss. It is usually found on balsam fir
, occasionally on black spruce, and rarely on white spruce, red maple, or white birch
. It does not appear to grow directly on bare bark, and is usually found growing in association with the epiphytic liverwort Frullania asagrayana
.
A healthy, mature specimen of Erioderma pedicellatum can grow at a rate of 11 to 14 mm per year, and populations of this lichen have a generation time of about 30 years. The Scytonema
cyanobacteria photobiont of this lichen make it particularly sensitive to acid rain and other atmospheric pollutants. It requires relatively cool and moist oceanic climates and an open canopy, and it deteriorates rapidly on dead trees, or if habitat succession occurs that reduces or increases light availability. Altered microclimatic conditions caused by extensive logging nearby to the lichen also cause it to deteriorate.
Old growth balsam fir forests in wet areas of eastern Canada regenerate by gap replacement, which creates a mosaic of forest stands of different ages while maintaining a full or partial canopy for millennia. As a result, these forests can support a unique biota, including Erioderma pedicellatum. It appears that this mosaic of forest stands of different ages is necessary for a viable population of E. pedicellatum. Natural dispersal of E. pedicellatum is evidently possible within these old-growth forests, but there are no known examples of E. pedicellatum establishing in stands previously clear-cut.
, in this instance between an ascomycete
fungus
and cyanobacteria of the genus Scytonema
, and is therefore capable of fixing nitrogen
. This symbiotic organism may also be part of second symbiosis with the epiphytic
liverwort
Frullania asagrayana
. The symbiosis between the free-living Scytonema
and the germinating ascomycete spore
s of Erioderma pedicellatum is hypothesized to begin within the water sacs of Frullania asagrayana, where the fungal hyphae assimilates a cyanobacterium, and needs to develop for 5 to 10 years before it reaches a visible size. The liverwort may also benefit from the nitrogen that is being fixed by the cyanolichen growing within it. This complex relationship means that the ecological balance between Erioderma pedicellatum and its cyanobacterial symbiont (Scytonema), its host tree, and (potentially) its liverwort nursemaid (Frullania asagrayana), is very delicate and easily impacted by logging, air pollution, and other factors.
(COSEWIC) and critically endangered
by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). No other lichen is listed by the IUCN but one fungus is considered critically endangered by the IUCN (Pleurotus nebrodensis
).
Two of the main populations of Erioderma pedicellatum in Newfoundland are currently within protected areas: Jipujijkuei Kuespem Provincial Park and the Lockyer’s Waters interim protected area. The Lockyer’s Waters interim protected area was established specifically to protect this lichen. The Bay du Nord Wilderness Area in Newfoundland also includes some populations of the lichen. The Hall’s Gullies site, which also includes the endangered lichen Erioderma mollissimum, is more in jeopardy as it remains a designated cut block under the current Forest Management Operating Plan. It has been noted that populations of this lichen can decline even in protected areas, which has been linked to air pollution and introduced herbivores such as moose.
The Atlantic population of the Erioderma pedicellatum is protected in Canada under the Federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), and is the focus of an ongoing recovery strategy. Crucially, efforts are being made, through land purchases and agreements with landowners, to formally protect areas of forest that are home to this rare species. Furthermore, conservationists are engaging with private and government forest managers to encourage their participation in the mapping of boreal felt lichen habitat and the implementation of management plans that will prevent further habitat loss.
Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
in the family Pannariaceae
Pannariaceae
The Pannariaceae are a lichenized family of fungi in the order Peltigerales . Species from this family have a widespread distribution, but are especially prevalent in southern temperate regions.-Species list:*Austrella...
, commonly called boreal felt lichen because of its fuzzy appearance. It grows on trees in damp boreal
Boreal ecosystem
The term boreal is usually applied to ecosystems localized in subarctic and subantarctic zones, although Austral is also used for the latter....
forests along the Atlantic coast, as well as on the Pacific coast of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. It is currently one of the most endangered lichens in the world.
Description
Erioderma pedicellatum is a foliose cyanolichen with lobes 2–5 cm across, and occasionally reaching 12 cm in diameter. It has a distinctively fuzzy upper surface that is greyish-brown when dry and slate-blue when moist. The underside is white, and its edges usually curl upwards, giving it the appearance of having a white fringe. It differs from the two other North American species of EriodermaErioderma
Erioderma is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Pannariaceae. They are commonly called mouse ears or felt lichens, and are small, pale brown to olive-brown foliose cyanolichens with a fuzzy upper surface that have the cyanobacteria Scytonema as their photobiont...
by lacking soredia, and by having small, reddish-brown apothecia on its upper surface.
Taxonomy and naming
Erioderma pedicellatum was first collected in 1902 from Campobello Island, Charlotte County, New BrunswickCharlotte County, New Brunswick
Charlotte County is located in the southwestern portion of New Brunswick, Canada.In most of the county, fishing and aquaculture dominate the local economy, although the town of St. Andrews is a tourist mecca and St...
, Canada, by William Gilson Farlow
William Gilson Farlow
William Gilson Farlow was an American botanist, born in Boston, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard , where, after several years of European study, he became adjunct professor of botany in 1874 and professor of cryptogamic botany in 1879.In 1899 he was president of the American Society of...
. It was originally identified as a species of Pannaria
Pannaria
Pannaria is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Pannariaceae.-External links:*...
and named P. pedicellata by French botanist Auguste-Marie Hue. It remained in this genus until 1972 when it was reexamined by the Norwegian botanist Per Magnus Jørgensen and placed in the genus Erioderma
Erioderma
Erioderma is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Pannariaceae. They are commonly called mouse ears or felt lichens, and are small, pale brown to olive-brown foliose cyanolichens with a fuzzy upper surface that have the cyanobacteria Scytonema as their photobiont...
as E. pedicellatum. It is an unusual species within that genus, both because of its laminal apothecia (lacking in other Erioderma) and its boreal distribution. Erioderma pedicellatum has also been incorrectly called E. boreale.
Distribution and ecology
Erioderma pedicellatum is an amphi-Atlantic species that was once prevalent in Norway and Sweden as well as the provinces of New BrunswickNew Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, and Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
in Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
. Very recently, a small population was discovered in Denali area of Alaska, increasing the known range of the species. It has disappeared from both Norway and Sweden and most areas of Atlantic Canada. It is no longer found in New Brunswick, and as of 2009 there were less than 200 individuals known in Nova Scotia. The remaining habitat in Newfoundland is therefore critical for the global survival of this species. Lockyer's Waters and Hall’s Gullies on the Avalon Peninsula
Avalon Peninsula
The Avalon Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland.The peninsula is home to 257,223 people, which is approximately 51% of Newfoundland's population in 2009, and is the location of the provincial capital, St. John's. It is connected to the...
in the southeast of Newfoundland, as well as Bay d'Espoir in the south, are three of the province's most prolific rare lichen habitats and are important for the conservation of Erioderma pedicellatum.
This lichen grows on the mossy trunks and branches of trees on slopes in areas that have a constant supply of moisture and are rich in Sphagnum
Sphagnum
Sphagnum is a genus of between 151 and 350 species of mosses commonly called peat moss, due to its prevalence in peat bogs and mires. A distinction is made between sphagnum moss, the live moss growing on top of a peat bog on one hand, and sphagnum peat moss or sphagnum peat on the other, the...
moss. It is usually found on balsam fir
Balsam Fir
The balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States .-Growth:It is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically tall, rarely to tall, with a narrow conic crown...
, occasionally on black spruce, and rarely on white spruce, red maple, or white birch
Betula cordifolia
Betula cordifolia is a birch species native to Eastern Canada and the North Eastern United States. Until recently it was considered a variety of Betula papyrifera , with which it shares many characteristics, and it was classified as B...
. It does not appear to grow directly on bare bark, and is usually found growing in association with the epiphytic liverwort Frullania asagrayana
Frullania asagrayana
Frullania asagrayana is a reddish-brown species of liverwort in the Jubulaceae family that grows in eastern North America.-Taxonomy and naming:...
.
A healthy, mature specimen of Erioderma pedicellatum can grow at a rate of 11 to 14 mm per year, and populations of this lichen have a generation time of about 30 years. The Scytonema
Scytonema
Scytonema is a genus of photosynthetic cyanobacteria that contains over 100 species. It grows in filaments that form dark mats. Many species are aquatic and are either free-floating or grow attached to a submerged substrate, while others species grow on terrestrial rocks, wood, soil, or plants...
cyanobacteria photobiont of this lichen make it particularly sensitive to acid rain and other atmospheric pollutants. It requires relatively cool and moist oceanic climates and an open canopy, and it deteriorates rapidly on dead trees, or if habitat succession occurs that reduces or increases light availability. Altered microclimatic conditions caused by extensive logging nearby to the lichen also cause it to deteriorate.
Old growth balsam fir forests in wet areas of eastern Canada regenerate by gap replacement, which creates a mosaic of forest stands of different ages while maintaining a full or partial canopy for millennia. As a result, these forests can support a unique biota, including Erioderma pedicellatum. It appears that this mosaic of forest stands of different ages is necessary for a viable population of E. pedicellatum. Natural dispersal of E. pedicellatum is evidently possible within these old-growth forests, but there are no known examples of E. pedicellatum establishing in stands previously clear-cut.
The symbiosis
Erioderma pedicellatum, like all lichens, is a symbiosisSymbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...
, in this instance between an ascomycete
Ascomycota
The Ascomycota are a Division/Phylum of the kingdom Fungi, and subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the Sac fungi. They are the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species...
fungus
Fungus
A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...
and cyanobacteria of the genus Scytonema
Scytonema
Scytonema is a genus of photosynthetic cyanobacteria that contains over 100 species. It grows in filaments that form dark mats. Many species are aquatic and are either free-floating or grow attached to a submerged substrate, while others species grow on terrestrial rocks, wood, soil, or plants...
, and is therefore capable of fixing nitrogen
Nitrogen fixation
Nitrogen fixation is the natural process, either biological or abiotic, by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia . This process is essential for life because fixed nitrogen is required to biosynthesize the basic building blocks of life, e.g., nucleotides for DNA and RNA and...
. This symbiotic organism may also be part of second symbiosis with the epiphytic
Epiphyte
An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...
liverwort
Marchantiophyta
The Marchantiophyta are a division of bryophyte plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like other bryophytes, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information....
Frullania asagrayana
Frullania asagrayana
Frullania asagrayana is a reddish-brown species of liverwort in the Jubulaceae family that grows in eastern North America.-Taxonomy and naming:...
. The symbiosis between the free-living Scytonema
Scytonema
Scytonema is a genus of photosynthetic cyanobacteria that contains over 100 species. It grows in filaments that form dark mats. Many species are aquatic and are either free-floating or grow attached to a submerged substrate, while others species grow on terrestrial rocks, wood, soil, or plants...
and the germinating ascomycete spore
Spore
In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
s of Erioderma pedicellatum is hypothesized to begin within the water sacs of Frullania asagrayana, where the fungal hyphae assimilates a cyanobacterium, and needs to develop for 5 to 10 years before it reaches a visible size. The liverwort may also benefit from the nitrogen that is being fixed by the cyanolichen growing within it. This complex relationship means that the ecological balance between Erioderma pedicellatum and its cyanobacterial symbiont (Scytonema), its host tree, and (potentially) its liverwort nursemaid (Frullania asagrayana), is very delicate and easily impacted by logging, air pollution, and other factors.
Conservation status
Erioderma pedicellatum is currently listed as endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in CanadaCommittee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada ; French: Le Comité sur la situation des espèces en péril au Canada, is an independent committee of wildlife experts and scientists whose "raison d’être is to identify species at risk" in Canada...
(COSEWIC) and critically endangered
Critically endangered
Version 2010.3 of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 3744 Critically Endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations.Critically Endangered by kingdom:*1993 Animalia*2 Fungi*1745 Plantae*4 Protista-References:...
by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). No other lichen is listed by the IUCN but one fungus is considered critically endangered by the IUCN (Pleurotus nebrodensis
Pleurotus nebrodensis
Pleurotus nebrodensis, commonly known as Funcia di basilicu is a fungus that was declared by the IUCN as critically endangered in 2006. This fungus only grows on limestone in northern Sicily in association with Cachrys ferulacea...
).
Two of the main populations of Erioderma pedicellatum in Newfoundland are currently within protected areas: Jipujijkuei Kuespem Provincial Park and the Lockyer’s Waters interim protected area. The Lockyer’s Waters interim protected area was established specifically to protect this lichen. The Bay du Nord Wilderness Area in Newfoundland also includes some populations of the lichen. The Hall’s Gullies site, which also includes the endangered lichen Erioderma mollissimum, is more in jeopardy as it remains a designated cut block under the current Forest Management Operating Plan. It has been noted that populations of this lichen can decline even in protected areas, which has been linked to air pollution and introduced herbivores such as moose.
The Atlantic population of the Erioderma pedicellatum is protected in Canada under the Federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), and is the focus of an ongoing recovery strategy. Crucially, efforts are being made, through land purchases and agreements with landowners, to formally protect areas of forest that are home to this rare species. Furthermore, conservationists are engaging with private and government forest managers to encourage their participation in the mapping of boreal felt lichen habitat and the implementation of management plans that will prevent further habitat loss.