Lichens provide snapshot of old-growth forest conservation value

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Published March 5, 2019 00:00 ET (News release from the Canadian Museum of Nature)
Suites of lichens associated with known old-growth areas can be used to help scientists and communities decide which areas to keep and which to cut. The scorecard of lichen species could be used as a tool by conservation biologists and forest mangers – the more species that depend on old-growth forest, then the higher the forest’s conservation value.

Authors: Troy McMullin, Canadian Museum of Nature – tmcmullin@mus-nature.ca; Yolanda Wiersma, Memorial University of Newfoundland – ywiersma@mun.ca