Impact of forest management on threatened epiphytic macrolichens: Evidence from a Mediterranean mixed oak forest (Italy)

Abstract: Forest management practices may heavily affect epiphytic cryptogams. This study was conceived in March 2016, as soon as we were informed about an authorized logging for timber within a Mediterranean mixed oak forest in Tuscany (central Italy), which threatened a large population of the forest macrolichen Lobaria pulmonaria (L.) Hoffm., composed of hundreds of fertile thalli. Lobaria pulmonaria is often used as an ecological indicator of high quality habitats hosting rare lichens, and in general, cryptogams worthy of conservation. The species has suffered a general decline throughout Europe as a consequence of air pollution and intensive forest management, and currently it is red-l…