Cyanolichens are lichens that apart from the basic fungal component ("mycobiont"), contain cyanobacteria, otherwise known as blue-green algae, as the photosynthesizing component ("photobiont"). Overall, about a third of lichen photobionts are cyanobacteria and the other two thirds are

green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ( Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alg ...

. Some lichens contain both

and cyanobacteria apart from the fungal component, in which case they are called "tripartite". Normally the photobiont occupies an extensive layer covering much of the thallus, but in tripartite lichens, the cyanobacterium component may be enclosed in pustule-like outgrowths of the main

thallus Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or " twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms ...

called cephalodia, which can take many forms. Apart from gaining energy through photosynthesis, the cyanobacteria which live in cephalodia may perform

nitrogen fixation Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular nitrogen (), with a strong triple covalent bond, in the air is converted into ammonia () or related nitrogenous compounds, typically in soil or aquatic systems but also in industry. At ...

on behalf of the lichen community. These cyanobacteria are generally more rich in nitrogen-fixing cells called

heterocyst Heterocysts or heterocytes are specialized nitrogen-fixing cells formed during nitrogen starvation by some filamentous cyanobacteria, such as '' Nostoc punctiforme'', ''Cylindrospermum stagnale'', and ''Anabaena sphaerica''. They fix nitrogen fro ...

s than those which live in the main photobiont layer of lichens.

External links

Lichens of North America, by I. Brodo, S. Sharnoff and S.D. Sharnoff

References

Lichenology {{lichen-stub