Love Lichens! – Christina Hart-Davies

#lichen #lichens #rainforest #woods #forest #jungle #nature #wild #wildlife #wilderness #naturephotography #photography #photooftheday

Lichens, those tiny combinations of alga and fungus, are photogenic, in their quiet, small way. Here are a few photos of them. Isn't God a great artist? I have a separate gallery for one of the most photogenic of lichens, Cladonia cristatella, British soldiers. You may be interested in some of my other galleries. There's one on fern fiddleheads, and one on moss sporophytes. I also have curated a gallery of tree bark photos.

Another set of tiny watercolors I have been working on. These are all species of lichen easily found in North America. I tried to represent ...

A practical field guide to the common lichens found in the northeastern megalopolis, including New York City, Toronto, Boston/New Haven, Philadelphia, Baltim...

#moss #lichen #lichens #rainforest #woods #forest #jungle #green #nature #wild #wildlife #wilderness #naturephotography #photography #photooftheday

As is true in the arctic tundra, Cladonias (most of this is C. portentosa) become very abundant on rocky "balds" in the San Juan Islands of Washington. According to Brodo, "Together with other species of Cladina [now lumped with Cladonia due to studies of DNA], especially C. stellaris and C. mitis, C. rangiferina constitutes the principal winter food of caribou in North America and reindeer in Europe." (Caribou and reindeer are called Rangifer tarandus.)

In unpolluted churchyards, lichens often form mosaics of colour, especially on the stonework, adding to the character and interest of the site. They vary in form from simple, powdery scatterings and crusts to more elaborate leafy or even bushy structures.

4, 5, maybe half a dozen species nestled into this tiny juncture of branches

#orange #lichen #lichens #rainforest #woods #forest #jungle #nature #wild #wildlife #wilderness #naturephotography #photography #photooftheday

What are lichens? Learn Lichens 101, read the Infinite Spider blog.

I find both interest and beauty in lichens, and thought that it would be nice to show something of how artists see them. You also might want to see some paintings by Kevin Bernstein, some of which appear lichen inspired. He is an artist / professor at the U of Kansas, (used to be at UW here in Seattle), see www.kevinmarcbernstein.com/ I'm finding it difficult to express my feelings about these images. It might be best for me to limit my remarks to the scientific aspects of what is portrayed.

Maybe a better question is"What are Lichens?". I decided to use that most accessible information source:   Wikipedia on Lichens whose definition says "Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner), usually either a green alga.  The morphology, physiology and biochemistry of lichens are very different from those…

Pseudocyphellaria

Lichens and moss covered boulder just beautiful in Arkansas woods #arkansas #woodland #forest #ozarks #lichenplanopilaris #lichen #moss #stone #naturebeauty #naturelovers #hiketrails #enjoythejourney #breathe #ozarkedgewildflowers

A dazzling array of shapes, sizes and colours. Find out about fungi and lichens, from ancient taboos to magic and medicine.

I'm intrigued by the range of ecological relationships that exist. We like to make neat distinctions between mutualist and parasite that apply to all individuals in a given relationship, but there's no intrinsic reason why they'd all be the same. While identifying these British Soldier Lichens I ran across this: Some scientists think Cladonia cristatella is a parasite of Trebouxia erici, using up its food but not giving much back to the algae. Since Trebouxia erici can live on its own, or with another lichen, it doesn't really need Cladoina cristatella. Other scientists believe the two organisms have a mutualistic relationship, since they both seem to do better with each other, rather than on their own.

By Roberta Burnes Division for Air Quality What can forests tell us about the air we breathe?  On a misty October morning, a group of people gathered in the shadow of Pine Mountain to help answer just that question.  One by one, each approached a tree with clipboards and hand lenses ready.  The clues were…