Thallus hydrophobicity: A low-cost method for understanding lichen ecophysiological responses to environmental changes.

ABSTRACT:

Premise

Methods to evaluate lichen thalli hydrophobicity have previously been described, but only recently has hydrophobicity been shown to be an important functional trait related to water regulation dynamics that could be used to predict future climate change effects. We describe a novel protocol to measure lichen thallus hydrophobicity that aims to be an easier and more affordable approach.

Methods and results

Our protocol requires only a micropipette, distilled water, a tripod, and a smartphone or camera. Hydrophobicity is inferred from multiple metrics associated with the absorption times of standardized droplets (initial and total absorption time). We used a data set of 93 lichen taxa with different growth forms and from different biomes and demonstrated that this meth

SUBMITTER: Koch NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11022209 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar-Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature