article id 296,
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                        Research article
                    
        
                                    
                                    
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                            Methods to improve the recovery of reindeer lichen after soil  disturbance or overgrazing are being sought for areas where reindeer are  herded. The effects of four substrates – mineral soil, moss, twigs and  pine bark – on the establishment of lichen fragments after total removal  of the vegetation were thus studied in a middle-aged pine stand and a  clear-cut, both located in a lichen-rich pine-heath. Cladina mitis  fragments of two sizes were manually dispersed in 1 m2 quadrats and their movements from their respective dispersal points were  registered after one year. The natural re-establishment of lichens in  the quadrats was monitored over three years by using digital pictures.  In the forest stand, no significant differences were detected in either  the fragment movement or the lichen establishment between the different  substrates, but the fragment size had positive effects on both  parameters. In the clear-cut, the moss substrate was the most suitable  not only for the artificially dispersed lichens to fasten to, but also  for the natural settlement of lichens from the surrounding lichen mat.  More lichen thalli fastened to the bark and twigs substrates than to the  mineral soil, but the settlement of lichens from the surrounding was  greater on bare mineral soil substrate. The results indicate that  artificial dispersal of lichen thalli on an appropriate substrate could  be a successful strategy for promoting lichen recovery.
                        
                
                                            - 
                            Roturier,
                            SLU, Vindeln Experimental Forests, Svartberget Fältstation, SE-922 91 Vindeln, Sweden
                                                        E-mail:
                                                            samuel.roturier@esf.slu.se
                                                                                        
                                                     
                                            - 
                            Bäcklund,
                            
                                                        E-mail:
                                                            sb@nn.se
                                                                                
 
                                            - 
                            Sundén,
                            
                                                        E-mail:
                                                            ms@nn.se
                                                                                
 
                                            - 
                            Bergsten,
                            SLU, Dept of Forest Ecology, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden
                                                        E-mail:
                                                            ub@nn.se