Cryptogams as indicator organisms in ecology and conservation biology

The present thesis was designed to compare the influence of land-use effects on three groups of cryptogam species, namely the bryophytes, lichens, and macromycetes. Further topics were to newly develop an indicator value system for macromycetes and to compile a broad overview of functional traits applicable to macromycetes. These research topics are intended to (further) stimulate ecological research using macromycetes. In Chapter 2, I present a methodology for Ellenberg indicator values (EIVs) for macromycetes, including a new indicator value scale, i.e., the substrate openness O. Furthermore, the hemeroby concept is incorporated for the first time in the system of indicator values. Based on the newly developed methodology, I compiled EIVs for 10 parameter scales for a set of nearly 640 macromycete species. To test the applicability of EIVs for this species group, I analysed the data set by dividing the species by Red List classes or by lifestyle groups. The EIVs light intensity, substrate nutrient availability, substrate openness, and hemeroby related to these two classifications significantly differed. Critically endangered species on average have distinctly higher demands regarding light and substrate openness than not or less strongly threatened ones, which in turn are more tolerant to human impact and have higher demands in nutrient availability. Mycorrhizal species on average have higher demands on substrate openness and are less tolerant to high nutrient levels than saprobiotic or parasitic species. This pattern clearly highlights the points of threat for many macromycete species. Chapter 3 persued a similar approach like Chapter 2. Using the same macromycete species set, I compiled data for 31 functional traits that cover a broad range of features of, e.g., fruit body morphology, hymenial structure, spore morphology, and propagule dispersal. In a comparative way, Red List classification and lifestyle groups were used to analyse the species set and to get an insight which traits may be connected with the ecology or endangerment of species. Red List classification accounted for significant differences in three traits, and the lifestyle types in 28 traits. I describe the differentiations and discuss them against the background of ecological and morphological research. Chapter 4 was designed to compare the influence of land-use history on vascular plants and cryptogams. I compared the results of previous studies on the vascular plant cover of ancient and recent sites of dry calcareous grasslands to the cryptogam vegetation of these sites. I also applied Ellenberg indicator values and the indicator species concept. Species numbers and Ellenberg indicator values were quite similar in ancient and recent grasslands. Nevertheless, we could identify indicator species for both grassland types, with Cladonia furcata ssp. subrangiformis and Hygrocybe persistens var. persistens as strongest indicators of ancient grasslands, and Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus as strongest indicator of recent grasslands. The vascular plant vegetation of the recent grasslands also included arable weeds and crop species, being residuals of the former land-use type. This pattern is very useful in distinguishing recent from ancient sites. However, we found no counterpart for the cryptogam vegetation. Thus, land-use history seems to have less influence on the composition of the cryptogam vegetation in grasslands. In Chapter 5, I present the first survey of the cryptogam vegetation of the grassland management project of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Using eight study sites the cryptogam vegetation found in the management and successional plots is compared. After a project term of 37 years, I assessed the effects of different mulching, mowing, burning, and grazing methods as well as of undisturbed succession on the cryptogam vegetation, and give recommendations for the management and establishment of species-rich sites. The most species-rich bryophyte vegetation was found for the management types mulching every third year, mowing twice per year, and, for small acrocarpous species only, controlled burning. Macromycete species richness was highest in successional plots. These, despite the comparably short time for development, also yielded a surprisingly rich epiphytic vegetation. To enhance species diversity it is recommended to leave old trees and to newly create situations of high structural diversity by connecting wooded stands with grassland sites differing in the intensity of maintenance. Chapter 6 is a holistic approach applying the three concepts of species identity, Ellenberg indicator values, and functional traits to analyse the influence of management and past draining on the macromycete funga of a calcareous fen, the Sippenauer Moor. I assessed changes by comparing the present mapping data with data from a study carried out in 1998 and 1999. While species numbers were similar for the Sphagnum patches, we found a considerable loss of species and of red listed species for the remaining fen area, and only very few species were found in both studies. Ellenberg indicator values and functional traits did not yield significant differences. However, we found a considerable increase in the number of ubiquitous species. These changes in species composition most probably are caused by an insufficiant management, tree encroachment, and after-effects of the past draining. We recommend to apply a more adapted management to prevent further species losses and to maintain the high quality of the fen

Bryophytes of Europe Traits (BET) dataset: a fundamental tool for ecological studies

Bryophytes are a diverse group of organisms with unique properties, yet they are severely underrepresented in plant trait databases. Building on the recently published European Red List of bryophytes and previous trait compilations, we present the Bryophytes of Europe Traits (BET) data set, including biological traits such as those related to life history, growth habit, sexual and vegetative reproduction; ecological traits such as indicator values, substrate and habitat; and bioclimatic variables based on the species' European range. The data set includes values for 65 traits and 25 bio-climatic variables, containing more than 135,000 trait values with a completeness of 82.7% on average. The data set will enable future studies in bryophyte biology, ecology and conservation, and may help to answer fundamental questions in bryology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lifestyle and threat of macromycetes, and functional traits correlated with it

Regarding the functional traits of macromycetes, at present there are only few studies available, and these mostly deal with more specific questions or single traits. In the present study we are interested in functional traits that may explain the lifestyle and threat of these fungi. For this purpose, we assembled a database on 31 traits that cover a broad range of features of, e.g., fruit body morphology, hymenial structure, spore morphology, and propagule dispersal of 636 macromycete species. To allow an easier classification of hymenium size we introduce two new measures, volume index and surface index. Lifestyle and Red List classification were used to detect differences in functional trait adaptation of species. Both were used as predictors in these analyses. Lifestyle type accounts for significant differences in 28 traits, which shows that different lifestyle types are based on specific trait combinations. Red List classification accounted for significant differences in four traits. We describe the differentiations and discuss them against the background of ecological and morphological research, including the causes of threat and niche adaptation

Subcanopy genetics – the relationship between canopy tree size and genetic variation of the savanna species Pollichia campestris Aiton (Illecebraceae)

In savanna vegetation, trees and their canopies provide an important, but scattered habitat. Seeds of plants growing under these nurse trees often are dispersed by animals, especially birds. In the present study, we investigated the influence of tree size and frugivore dispersal on the genetic variation of the subcanopy species Pollichia campestris, using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP). Considering the individuals under each nurse tree as subpopulations, we found the genetic variation within subpopulations to be positively correlated with the size of the respective canopy tree. Genetic variation was very low among, but high within subpopulations (ΦPT = 0.026, P = 0.18). We conclude that the low genetic variation among subpopulations is due to effective and directed dispersal (dispersal from one canopy to another) by legitimate and frugivorous dispersal agents

Ellenberg indicator values for macromycetes – a methodological approach and first applications

Ellenberg indicator values (EIVs) describe the realized niche of species and habitat parameters, and are commonly used for vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens. We provide a methodology for EIVs and an EIV list for nearly 650 species of macromycetes. We propose a new EIV scale, namely substrate openness (0). We also give the results of two applications and compare EIV values related to the Red List classification with those related to lifestyle classification. Mycorrhizal species on average have higher demands on substrate openness and are less tolerant of high nutrient levels than saprotrophic or parasitic species. Critically endangered species have on average distinctly higher demands on openness of habitat and substrate than not threatened or less strongly threatened species, which in turn have higher demands for nutrient availability. This pattern clearly highlights the points of threat for many macromycete species. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and British Mycological Society. All rights reserved

Romantismo, mística e escatologia política Romanticism, mystique and political eschatology

Vertentes filosóficas, políticas ou estéticas que contestaram os paradigmas centrais da modernidade são tradicionalmente percebidas como externas à própria modernidade. Este texto fala sobre aquilo que a própria ideologia modernizante denuncia como um irracionalismo antimoderno que, todavia, acompanha esta modernidade desde seus primórdios e recebe dela, paradoxalmente, impulsos aceleradores. Apresentar o romantismo, a mística e a escatologia como acompanhantes da modernidade técnica significa, também, entendê-los como fenômenos históricos que não entregaram as alternativas imaginárias ao mito da máquina; mito evocado por uma modernidade que quer esquecer as dimensões do Ser e da existência humana que transbordam o fatual e o mundo manipulável.<br>Philosophical, political or esthetic visions which have contested central paradigms of modernity are traditionally seen as external to modernity itself. This text talks about what modernizing ideology denounces as an antimodern irrationalism which, however, has followed this modernity since its beginning and receives from it, paradoxically, accelerating impulses. Presenting Romanticism, Mystique and Eschatology as companions of technical modernity also means to understand them as historical phenomena which have not handed over the imaginary alternatives to the machine myth, the one constructed by a modernity that wants to forget the dimensions of being and human existence which overflow the factual and the world exposed to manipulation