Press

New York State Museum Study Offers Key Insights into How Tree Diversity Fuels Lichen Life from the Appalachians to the Adirondacks 

Lichens, the remarkable symbiotic partnerships between fungi and algae, are helping scientists unlock a new understanding of biodiversity in some of North America’s most sensitive forest ecosystems. A major ecological study spearheaded in part by the New York State Museum, spanning the southern Appalachian Mountains, has found that the diversity of native tree species is the strongest predictor of how many lichen species a forest can support.

The research, published in The Bryologist and funded by the National Science Foundation, was co-led by Dr. James Lendemer, curator of botany at the New York State Museum, in collaboration with Drs. Christy McCain, Erin Manzitto-Tripp, and Nolan Kane, scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder. The findings underscore a critical point for conservation: protecting native habitats is key to sustaining the full web of forest life. Biodiversity is not only crucial in southern regions, but also in ecosystems across New York State, from the Hudson Valley to the Adirondack High Peaks.

“Lichens are essential to understanding how forests function,” said Dr. Lendemer. “The results of our study show lichens can demonstrate the ripple effects habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and climate change are causing across New York’s ecosystems.”

The research team conducted intensive fieldwork at 208 forest sites, covering a region larger than the state of Connecticut, and documented over 800 lichen species from more than 16,000 specimens. The analysis revealed that lichen richness peaks at mid-elevations and sharply declines in areas with greater human disturbance, lower rainfall, colder temperatures, or high levels of sulfur dioxide pollution.

One of the study’s most striking findings is that lichen diversity depends more on the variety of native tree species than on the abundance of physical surfaces for growth, such as tree trunks, rocks, or logs. This points to the importance of living relationships between species as a foundation for biodiversity.

These findings are especially relevant to New York, where high-elevation spruce-fir forests and lowland hardwood stands host diverse lichen communities that play an active role in air quality monitoring, biodiversity surveys, and forest health assessments. By identifying the specific environmental and biological drivers of lichen richness, the study strengthens the scientific foundation for using lichens as early-warning indicators of environmental stress and as a gauge of ecosystem resilience.

More broadly, the research extends traditional metrics of ecological health that emphasize forest size or canopy cover, to include native tree diversity and the diversity of symbiotic fungi. To protect biodiversity, land managers must prioritize preserving and restoring native tree diversity, not just dominant or fast-growing species.

As forests across the eastern United States face growing pressure from habitat loss, this research offers a timely and science-based reminder: healthy forests are built on diverse, living partnerships.

The full study, “The importance of tree diversity and other abiotic and biotic drivers of lichen species richness in a threatened and mountainous biodiversity hotspot,” appears in The Bryologist, Volume 128, Issue 3.

About the New York State Museum  

Established in 1836, the New York State Museum is the oldest and largest public museum in the United States. Home to leading scientists, historians, archeologists, and anthropologists, its collections represent the State’s rich cultural and natural heritage from the past and present, including a staggering 20+ million artifacts spanning 1.1 billion years ago to today. Located at 222 Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed on the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Admission is free. For additional information, visit the New York State Museum website and subscribe to our newsletter.  

###