Lichens on the edge: Keeping sensitive lichens in the managed forest

About this presentation

The Kispiox inland rainforest is a biological hotspot for forest canopy lichens, but has little formal protection. With only 7% in protected areas, we need conservation strategies that maintain rare lichens on the managed land base. Retaining groups of live trees around rare lichens in harvested units may allow lichens to persist through the harvest cycle and disperse to regenerating forests. For this ‘lifeboating’ to be successful, we need to know how well these lichens grow and survive in the retained patches and how well they colonize regenerating trees after logging. This presentation will summarize a series of recent studies in which we aimed to answer these research questions, and will make recommendations for the long-term persistence of these remarkable lichens.

About Paula Bartemucci

Paula Bartemucci (MSc.) is a botanist/lichenologist living in Smithers where she has a small consulting firm (Gentian Botanical Research). She has worked in the fields of forest research, plant ecology, botany, and rare species conservation for the past 25 years. In recent years, her research has focused on the ecology and conservation of rare lichens in the Kispiox Valley.