Abstract
The thesis includes the results of over ten years' research and observations of lichens on the straw-thatched roofs. The research sites were the villages located inside and on the edge of the vast lowland forests in Poland. The thatched roofs made of straw, which has been laid out for 1–50 years, were examined. Duration of the population process and quantitative changes of pioneering lichens were analysed. The following phases of the initial stage of formation of lichen flora were distinguished and characterized: the phase of occurrence of crustose lichens ('the straw thatch'), the phase of expansion of cup-moss ('the cup-moss thatch') and the phase of a shared domination of lichens and mosses ('the grey-green thatch'). The morphological and ecological features of pioneering lichens were revealed.
Keywords
lichen flora formation; thatched roofs; initial stage; succession phases; pioneer lichens; dynamics of species; substrates changes; the Polish Lowland