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Lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus, fungi species, along with yeast, yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), mutualistic relationship.Introduction to Lichens – An Alliance between Kingdoms
. University of California Museum of Paleontology. .
Lichens are the lifeform that first brought the term symbiosis (as ''symbiotismus'') under biological context. Lichens have since been recognized as important actors in nutrient cycling and producers which many higher trophic feeders feed on, such as reindeer, gastropods, nematodes, mites, and springtails. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms. T ...
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Letharia Vulpina
''Letharia vulpina'', commonly known as the wolf lichen (although the species name ''vulpina'', from ''vulpine'' relates to the fox), is a fruticose lichenized species of fungus in the family Parmeliaceae. It is bright yellow-green, shrubby and highly branched, and grows on the bark of living and dead conifers in parts of western and continental Europe and the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains of North America. This species is somewhat toxic to mammals due to the yellow pigment vulpinic acid, and has been used historically as a poison for wolves and foxes. It has also been used traditionally by many native North American ethnic groups as a pigment source for dyes and paints. Description The thallus, or vegetative body, has a fruticose shape — that is, shrubby and densely branched — and a bright yellow to yellow-green, or chartreuse color, although the color will fade in drier specimens. Its dimensions are typically in diameter. The vegetative reproduct ...
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Reindeer Moss
''Cladonia rangiferina'', also known as reindeer cup lichen, reindeer lichen (cf. Sw. ''renlav'') or grey reindeer lichen, is a light-colored fruticose, cup lichen species in the family Cladoniaceae. It grows in both hot and cold climates in well-drained, open environments. Found primarily in areas of alpine tundra, it is extremely cold-hardy. Other common names include reindeer moss, deer moss, and caribou moss, but these names can be misleading since it is, though somewhat moss-like in appearance, not a moss. As the common names suggest, reindeer lichen is an important food for reindeer (caribou), and has economic importance as a result. Synonyms include ''Cladina rangiferina'' and ''Lichen rangiferinus''. Description Thalli are fruticose, and extensively branched, with each branch usually dividing into three or four (sometimes two); the thicker branches are typically in diameter. The color is grayish, whitish or brownish gray. ''C. rangiferina'' forms extensive mat ...
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Moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hornworts. Mosses typically form dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple leaves that are generally only one cell thick, attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients. Although some species have conducting tissues, these are generally poorly developed and structurally different from similar tissue found in vascular plants. Mosses do not have seeds and after fertilisation develop sporophytes with unbranched stalks topped with single capsules containing spores. They are typically tall, though some species are much larger. ''Dawsonia'', the tallest moss in the world, can grow to in height. Ther ...
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List Of Common Names Of Lichen Genera
This is a list of common names of lichen genera. When a common name for a lichen genus is the same as the scientific name for that genus, it is not included in the following list. This list only includes genera common names that are widely used, as indicated by the common name either appearing in a peer reviewed scientific publication or in a scientifically reliable reference source. A common name for a lichen genus will often uniquely refer to that genus, but not always. Sometimes the same common name may refer to several different genera, which may not be related by sharing common ancestry. An example is that "wart lichen" refers to at least five different genera in four different families. Sometimes the same genus may have more than one widely used common name. For example, members of the genus '' Staurothele'' are commonly called "wart lichens", and also " rock pimples". Lichen genus common names my come from the shape, color, or other feature of some members of a genus. Othe ...
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Lichen Growth Forms
Lichens are composite organisms made up of multiple species: a fungal partner, one or more photosynthetic partners, and sometimes a basidiomycete yeast. They are regularly grouped by their external appearance – a characteristic known as their growth form. Lichenologists have described a dozen of these forms: areolate, byssoid, calicioid, cladoniform, crustose, filamentous, foliose, fruticose, gelatinous, leprose, placoidioid and squamulose. Of these, crustose, foliose and fruticose are the most commonly encountered. With the exception of calicioid lichens, growth forms are based on the appearance of the thallus, which is the vegetative (non-reproductive) part of the lichen. In most species, this form is determined by the lichen's fungal partner, though in a small number, it is instead the photobiont that determines the lichen's morphology. In some growth forms, the outermost layer of the thallus consists of tightly woven fungal . This layer, known as the cortex, may be found ...
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Leprose Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms made up of multiple species: a fungal partner, one or more photosynthetic partners, and sometimes a basidiomycete yeast. They are regularly grouped by their external appearance – a characteristic known as their growth form. Lichenologists have described a dozen of these forms: areolate, byssoid, calicioid, cladoniform, crustose, filamentous, foliose, fruticose, gelatinous, leprose, placoidioid and squamulose. Of these, crustose, foliose and fruticose are the most commonly encountered. With the exception of calicioid lichens, growth forms are based on the appearance of the thallus, which is the vegetative (non-reproductive) part of the lichen. In most species, this form is determined by the lichen's fungal partner, though in a small number, it is instead the photobiont that determines the lichen's morphology. In some growth forms, the outermost layer of the thallus consists of tightly woven fungal . This layer, known as the cortex, may be fo ...
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Crustose
Crustose is a habit of some types of algae and lichens in which the organism grows tightly appressed to a substrate, forming a biological layer. ''Crustose'' adheres very closely to the substrates at all points. ''Crustose'' is found on rocks and tree bark. Some species of marine algae of the Rhodophyta, in particular members of the order Corallinales, family Corallinaceae, subfamily Melobesioideae with cell walls containing calcium carbonate grow to great depths in the intertidal zone, forming crusts on various substrates. The substrate can be rocks throughout the intertidal zone, or, as in the case of the Corallinales, reef-building corals, and other living organisms including plants, such as mangroves and animals such as shelled molluscs. The coralline red algae are major members of coral reef communities, cementing the corals together with their crusts. Among the brown algae, the order Ralfsiales comprises two families of crustose algae. Growth and habitat Many lich ...
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Substrate (biology)
In biology, a substrate is the surface on which an organism (such as a plant, fungus, or animal) lives. A substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials and animals. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock (its substrate) can be itself a substrate for an animal that lives on top of the algae. Inert substrates are used as growing support materials in the hydroponic cultivation of plants. In biology substrates are often activated by the nanoscopic process of substrate presentation. In agriculture and horticulture * Cellulose substrate * Expanded clay aggregate (LECA) * Rock wool * Potting soil * Soil In animal biotechnology Requirements for animal cell and tissue culture Requirements for animal cell and tissue culture are the same as described for plant cell, tissue and organ culture (In Vitro Culture Techniques: The Biotechnological Principles). Desirable requirements are (i) air conditioning of a room, (ii) hot room with temperature recorder, (iii) microsc ...
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Foliose
Foliose lichen is one of the morphological classes of lichens, which are complex organisms that arise from the symbiotic relationship between fungi and a photosynthetic partner, typically algae. This partnership allows lichen to live in diverse climates that can range from cold, dry mountains to wet, warm valleys. Lichens develop quite slowly with recorded growth rates of 0.01–27mm/year depending on the species. Their lifespan averages between 30 and 60 years. Lichens have a main body part called the thallus, which is composed of hyphae, and houses the cortex and medulla. The cortex contains the photosynthetic cells while the medulla allows for gas exchange and makes up the bulk of the lichen's thallus. There are three main types of lichens: crustose, foliose, and fruticose. Foliose lichen are characterised by flattened leafy thalli, and an upper and lower cortex. Many have numerous layers, which are stratified, and aid in identifying different types. Foliose lichens atta ...
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Fruticose
A fruticose lichen is a form of lichen fungi that is characterized by a coral-like shrubby or bushy growth structure. It is formed from a symbiotic relationship of a photobiont such as green algae or less commonly cyanobacteria and one, two or more mycobionts. Fruticose lichens are not a monophyletic and holophyletic lineage, but is a form encountered in many classes. Fruticose lichens have a complex vegetation structure, and are characterized by an ascending, bushy or pendulous appearance. As with other lichens, many fruticose lichens can endure high degrees of desiccation. They grow slowly and often occur in habitats such as on tree barks, on rock surfaces and on soils in the Arctic and mountain regions. Characteristics Fruticose lichens are lichens composed of a shrubby or bushy thallus and a holdfast. The thallus is the vegetative body of a lichen that does not have true leaves, stems, or roots. The thallus colour is affected by the algae in the lichen, compounds created by ...
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Plant
Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes (the archaea and bacteria). By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (Latin name for "green plants") which is sister of the Glaucophyte, Glaucophyta, and consists of the green algae and Embryophyte, Embryophyta (land plants). The latter includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns and Fern ally, their allies, hornworts, liverworts, and mosses. Most plants are multicellular organisms. Green plants obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts that are derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. Their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green colo ...
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