The study of primary productivity of lichenized epigeic fungi in the pine forests of the Kostroma Region

Thalli of epigeic lichenized fungi of the genus Cladonia P. Browne are sources of high biological activity substances with a proven pharmaceutical potential. It’s necessary to study characteristics of the accumulation of biomass by thalli, as well as conditions affecting the accumulation of secondary metabolites by lesions. For the first time, studies of the primary productivity and concentrations of secondary metabolites in lichens of the genus Cladonia in pine forests in the center of the European part of Russia are presented on the example of the Kostroma Region. The primary productivity of bushy lichens of the genus Cladonia in the pine forests of the Kostroma Region is in the range of 16,05–34,72 g/m² per year for C. arbuscula and 14,70–28,18 g/m² per year for C. rangiferina. The weight gain of the living part of the subset is in direct proportion to the intensity of sunlight: the optimum for C. arbuscula is 4100–6100 lx (0,0250 g/year), for C. rangiferina it is 3800–5800 lx (0,0407 g/year). The influence of abiotic factors (biotope humidity and sunlight intensity) on the parameters of primary productivity and the accumulation of secondary metabolites by thalli was revealed. The influence of biotic factors is manifested on the projective cover of species. The highest values of the projective cover, 85,67% (C. arbuscula) and 61% (C. rangiferina), are confined to well-illuminated biotopes with rarefied sunlight (thin sphagnum pine forest, sphagnum-heather pine forest slope). The maximum amount of acetone extract of secondary metabolites per weight of air-dry raw material of lichenized fungi of the genus Cladonia was isolated from well-illuminated areas of pine forests at 5800–7400 lx (11,541 and 15,916 mg/g q.s. of C. rangiferina and C. arbuscula raw materials, respectively). The increased humidity of the biotope and shading conditions slow down the accumulation of secondary metabolites in the subsets.