Growth rate of Evernia divaricata in Dalarna 2020

Forests are a key ecosystem to protect biodiversity in Sweden. One important aspect is to protect endangered species and their habitat. Evernia divaricata is an endangered lichen that is sensitive to habitat loss and changing environmental conditions. As consequenceEvernia divaricata is an excellent indicator to observe ecosystem change or habitat disturbance. In the summer 2020 ten different sites were investigated in Dalarna, wherelichens also been investigated two times earlier (year 2006 and 2012) at the same sites. For some of the investigated sites, deforesting was recorded nearby, whereas other sites exhibited favorable conditions without impact because of nearby mires. The Wilcoxon testwas used to examine if there was any statistical difference between the three different inventories, both in terms of number and size of lichens. The study showed that there has been a statistically significant decrease between the three lichen inventories. There was both a decrease over time, but also a decrease within most individual sites. Additional sites should be included, and future inventories will show whether the decline is temporary or if the population keeps decreasing