Growth Rate of Usnea aurantiacoatra (Jacq.) Bory on Fildes Peninsula Antarctica and Its Climatic Background

摘要

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.