Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Li, Ying
• Kromer, Bernd
• Schukraft, Gerd
• Bubenzer, Olaf
• Huang, Man-Rong
• Wang, Ze-Min
• Bian, Lin-Gen
• Li, Cheng-Sen
• Kumaran, Navnith K. P.

Titel

Growth rate of Usnea aurantiacoatra (Jacq.) Bory on Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica and its climatic background

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2014-06, Vol.9 (6), p.e100735-e100735

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2014

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The ages of a fruticose lichen of Usnea aurantiacoatra (Jacq.) Bory, from Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Southwest Antarctic, were determined by radiocarbon (14C), and it is 1993-1996 at bottom and 2006-2007 at top of the lichen branch. The growth rates of U. aurantiacoatra calculated are 4.3 to 5.5 mm year(-1) based on its length and ages. The comparisons show that the growth rates of U. aurantiacoatra are higher than those of U. antarctica (0.4 to 1.1 mm year(-1)). The growth rates of fruticose lichens are always higher, usually >2 mm year(-1), than those of crustose ones, usually <1 mm year(-1), in polar areas. A warming trend on Fildes Peninsula is recorded in the period from 1969 to 2010 obviously: the mean annual temperature rose from -2.75 to -1.9°C and the average temperature of summer months from 0.95 to 1.4°C, as well as the average temperature of winter months from -6.75 to -5.5°C. The alteration of lichen growth rates in polar areas may respond to the climatic and environmental changes, and the lichens may act as bio-monitor of natural condition.