LICHENS- What’s not to Like? Lichens are fascinating composite organisms consisting of a fungus and a photosynthetic partner (“photobiont”) growing together in a symbiotic relationship. The photobiont is usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium. Lichens occur in some of the most extreme environments on Earth,but can also be abundant---growing on trees, bare rock and on exposed soil. They occur in a wide variety of growth forms and colors. Lichens provide many ecosystem services such as: serving many roles in wildlife food webs, nesting material (e.g. for the forest warbler Northern Parula), camouflage, nutrient cycling (e.g. nitrogen fixation), providing homes for spiders and insects, and more. In fact, they’re like mini-ecosystems themselves! They’re vulnerable to collection as they typically are very long-lived and slow-growing. They tend to be sensitive to environmental disturbance and so may be useful to scientists in assessing the effects of air pollution, ozone depletion, heavy metal contamination, and the ecological effects of climate change. For more info about lichens, check out the field guide, Lichens of the North Woods .
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:44:53 +0000
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