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Experimental climate warming decreases photosynthetic efficiency of lichens in an arid South African ecosystem

  • Global change ecology - Original research paper
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Abstract

Elevated temperatures and diminished precipitation amounts accompanying climate warming in arid ecosystems are expected to have adverse effects on the photosynthesis of lichen species sensitive to elevated temperature and/or water limitation. This premise was tested by artificially elevating temperatures (increase 2.1–3.8°C) and reducing the amounts of fog and dew precipitation (decrease 30.1–31.9%), in an approximation of future climate warming scenarios, using transparent hexagonal open-top warming chambers placed around natural populations of four lichen species (Xanthoparmelia austroafricana, X. hyporhytida , Xanthoparmelia. sp., Xanthomaculina hottentotta) at a dry inland site and two lichen species (Teloschistes capensis and Ramalina sp.) at a humid coastal site in the arid South African Succulent Karoo Biome. Effective photosynthetic quantum yields (\( \Updelta F/F_{\text{m}}^{\prime } \)) were measured hourly throughout the day at monthly intervals in pre-hydrated lichens present in the open-top warming chambers and in controls which comprised demarcated plots of equivalent open-top warming chamber dimensions constructed from 5-cm-diameter mesh steel fencing. The cumulative effects of the elevated temperatures and diminished precipitation amounts in the open-top warming chambers resulted in significant decreases in lichen \( \Updelta F/F_{\text{m}}^{\prime } \). The decreases were more pronounced in lichens from the dry inland site (decline 34.1–46.1%) than in those from the humid coastal site (decline 11.3–13.7%), most frequent and prominent in lichens at both sites during the dry summer season, and generally of greatest magnitude at or after the solar noon in all seasons. Based on these results, we conclude that climate warming interacting with reduced precipitation will negatively affect carbon balances in endemic lichens by increasing desiccation damage and reducing photosynthetic activity time, leading to increased incidences of mortality.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. S. Snyders for technical support and Prof. Rambold (Bayreuth) for providing TLC facilities for lichen identification. The study was funded by the South African National Biodiversity Institute and partly subsidized by BIOTA (Phase III) program financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Promotion number 01LC0624A2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Change and Bio-Adaptation Division, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Private Bag X7, Claremont, 7735, Cape Town, South Africa

    Khumbudzo Walter Maphangwa & Charles F. Musil

  2. Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, University of Western Cape, Private Bag X7, Bellville, 7535, South Africa

    Lincoln Raitt

  3. Abt Mykologie NW1, Lehrstuhl für Pflanzensystematik, Universitätsstrasse 30, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Luciana Zedda

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  1. Khumbudzo Walter Maphangwa
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Correspondence to Charles F. Musil.

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Communicated by Hermann Heilmeier.

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Maphangwa, K.W., Musil, C.F., Raitt, L. et al. Experimental climate warming decreases photosynthetic efficiency of lichens in an arid South African ecosystem. Oecologia 169, 257–268 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2184-9

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