Looking for a home: Exploring the potential of epiphytic lichens to colonize tree plantations in a Macaronesian laurel forest

Mankind has been altering native forests in Macaronesia for at least five centuries. Forestry practices are known to reduce biodiversity due to habitat loss, fragmentation and alteration. To assess the potential of plantations to provide habitat for epiphytic lichens in comparison with native forests, we examined three types of forest in the Canary Islands: laurel forest (native forest) and two monospecific plantations of Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus globulus. Epiphytic lichen diversity was evaluated using a methodology of species richness and lichen diversity values (LDV). Our results demonstrate that the conversion of laurel forests to monoculture plantations of exotic tree species decreases lichen diversity and alters lichen community composition. Our findings hightlight how native epiphytic lichens from the cloud forest cannot survive under the same climatic conditions if the host plant community is changed.