Gastroprotective and Antioxidant Effects of Lobaria pulmonaria and Its Metabolite Rhizonyl Alcohol on Indomethacin‐Induced Gastric Ulcer

Two lichen metabolites, rhizonaldehyde ( 1 ) and rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ), were isolated from the acetone extract of Lobaria pulmonaria by chromatographic methods, and their chemical structures were determined by UV/VIS, IR, and 1D‐ and 2D‐NMR spectroscopic methods. The gastroprotective and in vivo antioxidant activities of extracts of L. pulmonaria and its metabolites, 1 and 2 , were investigated in indomethacin‐induced ulcer models in rats. The gastric lesions were significantly reduced by acetone, hexane, and CHCl₃ extracts, with 75.3–41.5% inhibition. Rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ) significantly reduced the gastric lesions with an inhibition rate of 84.6–42.8%, whereas rhizonaldehyde ( 1 ) significantly increased the gastric lesions. Antioxidant parameters and myeloperoxidase activities were also evaluated in the gastric tissues of the rats. Indomethacin caused oxidative stress, which resulted in lipid peroxidation in gastric tissues by decreasing the levels of the antioxidants as compared to healthy rat tissues. In contrast to indomethacin, all extracts and rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ) caused a significant decrease in lipid peroxidation levels and an increase in antioxidant parameters, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione‐S‐transferase, and reduced glutathione in gastric tissues. The administration of rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ) also resulted in a decrease in gastric myeloperoxidase activity increased by indomethacin. The gastroprotective effect of rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ) can be attributed to its antioxidant properties and its suppressing effect on neutrophil infiltration into gastric tissues.     

Is local distribution of the epiphytic lichen <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lobaria pulmonaria</Emphasis> limited by dispersal capacity or habitat quality?

By surveying and re-surveying 12 forest sites in southern Sweden for the epiphytic lichen Lobaria pulmonaria with a 9-year interval, and measuring tree-related habitat quality variables, we have investigated whether the local distribution of the lichen is limited by poor dispersal capacity or by habitat quality. Dispersal distances were measured indirectly as the distances between colonised trees and the nearest trees occupied by L. pulmonaria in both 1992 and 2001. To compare habitat quality between trees occupied by L. pulmonaria and neighbouring control trees, we recorded tree species and measured age and growth rate of trees, light conditions, bark structure and bryophyte cover. The estimated mean dispersal distance was 35 m, with a recorded maximum of 75 m. Occupied trees were larger and had a larger cover of bryophytes than unoccupied trees of similar size. The results indicate that dispersal capacity probably is the most important factor in limiting the local distribution of L. pulmonaria, but habitat-quality factors may be important on a smaller spatial scale.     

Curling during desiccation protects the foliose lichen Lobaria pulmonaria against photoinhibition

This study aims to assess the photoprotective potential of desiccation-induced curling in the light-susceptible old forest lichen Lobaria pulmonaria by using chlorophyll fluorescence imaging. Naturally curled thalli showed less photoinhibition-induced limitations in primary processes of photosynthesis than artificially flattened specimens during exposures to 450 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ in the laboratory after both 12- (medium dose treatment) and 62-h duration (high dose treatment). Thallus areas shaded by curled lobes during light exposure showed unchanged values of measured chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (F _V/F _M, Φ_{PS II}), whereas non-shaded parts of curled thalli, as well as the mean for the entire flattened thalli, showed photoinhibitory limitation after light treatments. Furthermore, the chlorophyll fluorescence imaging showed that the typical small-scale reticulated ridges on the upper side of L. pulmonaria caused a spatial, small-scale reduction in damage due to minor shading. Severe dry-state photoinhibition readily occurred in flattened and light-treated L. pulmonaria, although the mechanisms for such damage in a desiccated and inactive stage are not well known. Natural curling is one strategy to reduce the chance for serious photoinhibition in desiccated L. pulmonaria thalli during high light exposures.     

European phylogeography of the epiphytic lichen fungus Lobaria pulmonaria and its green algal symbiont

In lichen symbiosis, fungal and algal partners form close associations, often codispersed by vegetative propagules. Due to the particular interdependence, processes such as colonization, dispersal or genetic drift are expected to result in congruent patterns of genetic structure in the symbionts. To study the population structure of an obligate symbiotic system in Europe, we genotyped the fungal and algal symbionts of the epiphytic lichen Lobaria pulmonaria at eight and seven microsatellite loci, respectively, and analysed about 4300 L. pulmonaria thalli from 142 populations from the species' European distribution range. Based on a centroid approach, which localizes centres of genetic differentiation with a high frequency of geographically restricted alleles, we identified the South Italy–Balkan region as the primary glacial refugial area of the lichen symbiosis. Procrustean rotation analysis and a distance congruence test between the fungal and algal population graphs indicated general concordance between the phylogeographies of the symbionts. The incongruent patterns found in areas of postglacial recolonization may show the presence of an additional refugial area for the fungal symbiont, and the impact that horizontal photobiont transmission and different mutation rates of the symbionts have on their genotypic associations at a continental scale.     

Non‐parametric habitat models with automatic interactions

Questions: Can a statistical model be designed to represent more directly the nature of organismal response to multiple interacting factors? Can multiplicative kernel smoothers be used for this purpose? What advantages does this approach have over more traditional habitat modelling methods? Methods: Non‐parametric multiplicative regression (NPMR) was developed from the premises that: the response variable has a minimum of zero and a physiologically‐determined maximum, species respond simultaneously to multiple ecological factors, the response to any one factor is conditioned by the values of other factors, and that if any of the factors is intolerable then the response is zero. Key features of NPMR are interactive effects of predictors, no need to specify an overall model form in advance, and built‐in controls on overfitting. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated with simulated and real data sets. Results: Empirical and theoretical relationships of species response to multiple interacting predictors can be represented effectively by multiplicative kernel smoothers. NPMR allows us to abandon simplistic assumptions about overall model form, while embracing the ecological truism that habitat factors interact.     

Defensive compound concentration in boreal lichens in response to simulated nitrogen deposition

Nitrogen (N) deposition is expected to increase in northwestern Europe the next 50–100 years. The effects of higher N availability on lichens will presumably depend on their capacity to acquire carbon (C), that is, of the timing and duration of the wet and active state. If lichens respond like plants, their C and N status may affect their concentration of carbon-based secondary compounds (CBSCs), and thus their defence against herbivores, detrimental radiation, pathogens and parasites. In the present study we have manipulated N availability and timing and duration of the metabolically active state by spraying lichen transplants in an old spruce forest with rainwater or rainwater with added N corresponding to 50 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. The spraying was applied either at night, in the morning or at noon to also investigate the effect of timing and duration of the active state. Concentrations of N, chlorophyll a (Chl a ) and CBSCs were measured before and after one summer's spraying of 10 thalli in each of four different lichen species; Alectoria sarmentosa, Lobaria scrobiculata, Platismatia glauca , and Xanthoria aureola . The added N was readily taken up by all the lichen species. A. sarmentosa, P. glauca , and X. aureola increased their Chl a concentration in response to increased N, while L. scrobiculata increased Chl a in response to increased active time. None of the studied species reduced their concentration of secondary compounds during the experimental period, but in P. glauca the concentration of all compounds were significantly lower in N-treated thalli compared with those that got only rainwater. The results are consistent with a high degree of constitutive defence in three of four species, and we conclude that all the investigated lichens seem to have rather robust chemical defence systems despite considerable manipulation of the environmental conditions.     

针芽肺衣的化学成分

从针芽肺衣(Lobaria isidiophora)中共得到9个化合物,分别鉴定为针肺晶(isidiphoin),斑点酸(stictic acid),降斑点酸(norstictic acid),隐斑点酸(cryptostictic acid),茶渍酸(lecanoric acid),网脊衣酸A、B(retigeric acid A, B)和苔色酸甲酯、乙酯(methyl, ethyl orsellinates)。其中针肺晶为一新的缩酚酮,根据光谱和化学分析,推定了其结构。     

中国西北太白山地区地衣补遗

本文补充报道太白山地区的地衣9种,其中中国新记录3个:棕色雪花衣Anaptychia runcinata、橡皮肺衣Lobaria quercizans、美国大孢蜈蚣衣Physconia americana。简要介绍了这3个中国新记录的鉴别特征。     

Mollusc grazing may constrain the ecological niche of the old forest lichen Pseudocyphellaria crocata

This study reports on mollusc grazing of two epiphytic cyanobacterial lichens (Pseudocyphellaria crocata and Lobaria pulmonaria) transplanted within three Picea abies-dominated boreal rain forest stands (clear-cut, young and old forests) in west central Norway. Grazing was particularly high in transplants located in the old forest and was almost absent in clear-cut transplants. Grazing marks were absent on natural thalli on nearby spruce twigs (required creeping distance for mollusc from the ground >4 m). Transplantation of lichens from twigs to artificial transplantation frames reduced the creeping distance to 1.2 m, and caused a significant increase in grazing damage in P. crocata. Given a paired choice under transplantation, molluscs consistently preferred P. crocata and avoided L. pulmonaria, implying species-specific differences in herbivore defence. Pseudocyphellaria crocata has a much lower content of the medullary depsidones stictic and constictic acid than L. pulmonaria. Heavy grazing occurred in the P. crocata thalli lowest in these two depsidones. The upper part of the medulla hosting the photobiont was the preferred fodder for grazing molluscs. Molluscs avoided the yellow soralia in P. crocata (localised pulvinic acid), suggesting a role for pulvinic acid in preventing grazing of detached soredia and early establishment stages. The preference of P. crocata for thin spruce twigs is probably a result of a lower grazing pressure on twigs compared to e.g. deciduous stems that frequently support the better defended L. pulmonaria. Ongoing climate changes with increased annual rainfall and milder winters have presumably increased mollusc grazing, particularly in SW parts of Norway which have more species of lichen-feeding molluscs than the boreal sites studied. These temperate areas lacking natural spruce populations have recently experienced reported extinctions of the poorly defended P. crocata from rocks and deciduous stems prone to mollusc grazing. Lichen-feeding molluscs have likely played a role in these extinctions, causing spruce twigs in Atlantic boreal forests to be a last strong foothold for P. crocata in Scandinavia.