Current strategies for conservation reportedly suffer from an inadequate awareness of the drivers affecting lichen diversity, pointing to the need to fully develop a functional approach to lichen ecology. This study is an attempt to detect the drivers affecting functional diversity in the lichen flora of a volcanic Mediterranean area. Data on epiphytic lichen distribution were correlated with information coming from a GIS analysis. Species richness, functional diversity and indicator values of lichens species were analyzed as a function of altitude, bioclimatic patterns and land use patterns. Both taxonomic and functional diversity were found to increase with altitude, peaking at 600 m a.s.l. and slightly decreasing at higher elevations. A filtering effect of altitude on lichen growth-forms was detected at increasing altitude, with foliose isidiate lichens replacing crustose lichens with sexual reproduction, cyanobacteria replacing Trentepohlia as photobiont, and oligotrophic species linked to partially shaded environments gradually replacing species indicating eutrophic conditions. Forest stations impacted by low impact traditional agriculture tended to express higher lichen diversity compared to either undisturbed broadleaved forests or intensive orchards. These data demonstrate the need to integrate traditional low-impact agricultural practices in protected areas. Moreover, they provide the evidence that reanalyzing past and recent lichenological censuses with the proposed analytical tools may help previewing and driving the evolution of endangered ecosystems.

据报道，目前的保护策略对影响地衣多样性的驱动因素认识不足，这表明需要全面开发一种有效的地衣生态学方法。这项研究旨在检测影响地中海火山地区地衣植物功能多样性的驱动因素。附生地衣分布的数据与来自GIS分析的信息相关。分析了地衣物种的物种丰富度，功能多样性和指标值随海拔，生物气候模式和土地利用模式的变化。分类学和功能多样性均随海拔的增加而增加，在600 m asl时达到峰值，而在海拔较高时则略有下降。在海拔升高的情况下，可以检测到海拔对地衣生长形式的过滤作用，Trentepohlia是光生物体，寡养物种与部分阴影环境联系在一起，逐渐取代了指示富营养状况的物种。与未受干扰的阔叶林或密集果园相比，受低影响的传统农业影响的林地往往表现出更高的地衣多样性。这些数据表明有必要在保护区整合传统的低影响农业做法。此外，他们提供的证据表明，使用提出的分析工具重新分析过去和最近的地衣普查可能有助于预览和推动濒危生态系统的发展。