Is Life Cycle Analysis Useful For Lichens? : An Example Using Two Methods for Endangered Boreal Felt Lichen

Life cycle analysis has proven a useful method for identifying bottlenecks or critical life stages for animals and to a lesser extent for plants. To determine if life cycle analysis would be useful for endangered Boreal Felt Lichen ( Erioderma pedicellatum), elasticity analysis and a modified Systematic Hazard Analysis of Rare-endangered Plants (SHARP) procedure was used for this lichen species in Nova Scotia, Canada. Both elasticity and SHARP suggest that juvenile recruitment and survival is a critical life stage. So little is known about symbiosis in lichens it is not possible to determine if this is a critical life stage.