The objective was to investigate at what the age specimen of Cliostomum corrugatum become fertile in order to estimate the time span between the meiosis events. The species has its main distribution in Europe but has also been found on the west coast of British Columbia and is red listed, e.g., in Sweden (nearly threatened), Denmark, Germany and England. In the province of Östergötland, southern Sweden it is most frequent on old Quercus robur trees in open oak forest or meadows. I may also be found on other deciduous trees as Ulmus and Fraxinus species. It is mainly groving on the flat terminal parts of the rough bark of the tree trunks and not on the sides of the cracks. Cliostomum corrugatum does not grow on young oak trees. The smallest tree trunk diameter with Cliostomum corrugatum was is 0.65 m, a tree of at least 100 years of age. On two localities in Östergötland all oaks were studied and the size of the trees and the size of the largest thallus of Cliostomum corrugatum were recorded. Out of this data the size of how small a tree can possibly be for hosting Cliostomum corrugatum. This estimate was compared with the size of the smallest thalli with apothecia and the size of trees on which these appeared. With knowledge of the peripheral secondary growth of oaks it was possible to estimate the age of the youngest fertile Cliostomum corrugatum to about 30 years. Thus, equal to the time span between two meiosis events.
This study showed that population differentiation in P. damicornis varied over spatial scales and that this variability occurred at both evolutionary and ecological time scales. This paradox is discussed in light of stochastic recruitment and small scale population structures found in other species of coral. The study also identifies potential source reefs, such as those within Mnemba Conservation area near Zanzibar and genetically isolated reefs such as those within Malindi Marine National Park and Reserve in northern Kenya.