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Analysis of institutional authors

Hurtado AragÜes, PilarAuthor
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Review

Functional traits in lichen ecology: A review of challenge and opportunity

Publicated to:Microorganisms. 9 (4): - 2021-04-01 9(4), DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9040766

Authors: Ellis CJ; Asplund J; Benesperi R; Branquinho C; Di Nuzzo L; Hurtado P; Martínez I; Matos P; Nascimbene J; Pinho P; Prieto M; Rocha B; Rodríguez-Arribas C; Thüs H; Giordani P

Affiliations

Alma Mater Studiorum Universita di Bologna - Author
Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade de Lisboa - Author
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - Author
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart - Author
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid - Author
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos - Author
Università degli Studi di Firenze - Author
Università degli Studi di Genova - Author
Universitetet for miljø- og biovitenskap - Author
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Abstract

Community ecology has experienced a major transition, from a focus on patterns in taxonomic composition, to revealing the processes underlying community assembly through the analysis of species functional traits. The power of the functional trait approach is its generality, predictive capacity such as with respect to environmental change, and, through linkage of response and effect traits, the synthesis of community assembly with ecosystem function and services. Lichens are a potentially rich source of information about how traits govern community structure and function, thereby creating opportunity to better integrate lichens into ‘mainstream’ ecological studies, while lichen ecology and conservation can also benefit from using the trait approach as an investigative tool. This paper brings together a range of author perspectives to review the use of traits in lichenology, particularly with respect to European ecosystems from the Mediterranean to the Arctic-Alpine. It emphasizes the types of traits that lichenologists have used in their studies, both response and effect, the bundling of traits towards the evolution of life-history strategies, and the critical importance of scale (both spatial and temporal) in functional trait ecology.

Keywords
ecosystem serviceseffect traitsfunctional ecologylichenised-fungilife-history strategyresponse traitsscalespatialAtmospheric ammoniaBiological soil crustsBlue-green-algaeConvergent evolutionEcosystem servicesEffect traitsEpiphytic lichensFunctional ecologyLichenised-fungiLife-history strategyLobaria-pulmonariaPacific-northwestResponse traitsScaleSecondary compoundsSpatialSpecies richnessTemporalWater storage

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Microorganisms due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position 54/137, thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Microbiology. Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q2 para la agencia Scopus (SJR) en la categoría Microbiology.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 2.66. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 4.6 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 14.2 (source consulted: Dimensions May 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-05-07, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 26
  • Scopus: 52
  • OpenCitations: 44
Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-05-07:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 124.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 124 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 6.95.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 10 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Germany; Italy; Norway; Portugal; United Kingdom.