Assessing the ecological impacts of environmental change on biological communities requires knowledge of the factors driving the spatial patterns of the three diversity facets along extensive environmental gradients. We quantified the taxonomic (TD), functional (FD), and phylogenetic diversity (PD) of lichen epiphytic communities in 23 beech forests along Europe to examine their response to environmental variation (climate, habitat quality, spatial predictors) at a continental geographic scale. We selected six traits related to the climatic conditions in forest ecosystems, the water-use strategy and the nutrient uptake, and we built a phylogenetic tree based on four molecular markers. FD and climate determined TD and PD, with spatial variables also affecting PD. The three diversity facets were primarily shaped by distinct critical predictors, with the temperature diurnal range affecting FD and PD, and precipitation of the wettest month determining TD. Our results emphasize the value of FD for explaining part of TD and PD variation in lichen communities at a broad geographic scale, while highlighting that these diversity facets provide complementary information about the communities' response under changing environmental conditions. Furthermore, traits such as growth form, photobiont type, and reproductive strategy mediated the response of lichen communities to abiotic factors emerging as useful indicators of macroclimatic variations.

Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación ESCET Universidad Rey Juan Carlos c Tulipán s n 28933 Móstoles Spain

Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación Carretera Moncada Náquera km 4 5 46113 Valencia Spain

Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences University of Bologna Via Irnerio 42 1 40126 Bologna Italy

Department of Biology University of Florence Via La Pira 4 1 50121 Firenze Italy

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Botany Faculty of Sciences University of South Bohemia Branišovská 1760 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Department of Botany Swedish Museum of Natural History P O Box 50007 SE 104 05 Stockholm Sweden

Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences PO Box 7044 SE 750 07 Uppsala Sweden

DIFAR University of Genova Viale Cembrano 4 1 16148 Genova Italy

Institute of Biology Karl Franzens Universität Graz Holteigasse 6 8010 Graz Austria

Museum of Evolution Uppsala University Norbyvägen 16 SE 752 36 Uppsala Sweden

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