Alterations in the metabolic fingerprint of Cladonia portentosa in response to atmospheric nitrogen deposition

Freitag, Sabine; Hogan, Erika J.; Crittenden, Peter D.; Allison, Gordon G.; Thain, Simon C.

Alterations in the metabolic fingerprint of Cladonia portentosa in response to atmospheric nitrogen deposition

2011

Freitag, Sabine | Hogan, Erika J. | Crittenden, Peter D. | Allison, Gordon G. | Thain, Simon C.

Nitrogen availability has profound ecological consequences in nutrient‐limited systems. In terrestrial settings these would include the upland heaths, sand dunes and blanket bogs of temperate latitudes. Understanding the physiological consequences of nitrogen enrichment is a first critical step in predicting possible consequences. Results are presented from a metabolic fingerprinting study using Fourier transform‐infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to detect biochemical differences in the lichen Cladonia portentosa collected from 25 sites across mainland Britain varying in their nitrogen input. Partial least‐squares regression analysis of the FTIR data demonstrated that changes in broad biochemical classes were consistently correlated with mean annual wet inorganic nitrogen deposition loads. These results demonstrated a direct coupling of a broad range of metabolic processes in C. portentosa to nitrogen deposition.

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