Lichens of Alpine Meadows on the Beartooth Plateau, Montana and Wyoming, U.S.A.

Abstract

Eighty species of lichens were identified from upper timberline and alpine meadows on the Beartooth Plateau in Montana and Wyoming. About 85% of the species are common in arctic and other alpine regions in western North America. Forty-nine percent of the species grow on rock, with 51% on soil, moss, and plant detritus. Fifty-seven percent of the species are crustose, 23% are fruticose, and 20% are foliose or umbilicate. The percentage of lichen cover on rock and soil is highest in fellfields, ranging from 20 to 54%; the percentage of vascular plant cover in fellfields is 41 to 58%. In grass/sedge turfs, vascular plant cover is the highest (67% to over 99%), and lichen cover is lowest (0 to 5%). In turfs dominated by Geum rossii (R. Br.) Sen var. turbinatum (Rydb.) Hitchc., lichen cover is between 7 and 21% and that of vascular plants ranges between 51 and 92%. The percentage of total vegetation cover contributed by lichens is from 0% in a grass/sedge community to 54% in a fellfield.