Monday, June 23, 2008

Orange Lichen

Lichens are Odd Fellows

Orange Lichen (Teloschistes exilis)
on a Parmotrema sp.
(Click on the photo for a better view)


A couple of really nice lichens. . I have photographed a lot of them, and now I guess it's time to invest in Brodo's book - "Lichens of North America". See here at Amazon.com.

Update: Whoohooo! the book is Ordered. Second Update: It's here, all 8 1/2 lbs.
According to Irwin Brodo, the two species are Teleoschistes and Parmotrema.

Lichens are symbiotic associations of a fungus (the mycobiont) with a photosynthetic partner (the photobiont also known as the phycobiont) that can produce food for the lichen from sunlight. The photobiont is usually either green alga or cyanobacterium. A few lichens are known to contain yellow-green algae or, in one case, a brown alga. Some lichens contain both green algae and cyanobacteria as photobionts; in these cases, the cyanobacteria symbiont component may specialize in fixing atmospheric nitrogen for metabolic use.

In the natural environment, lichen "provides" the alga with water and minerals that the fungus absorbs from whatever the lichen is growing on, its substrate. As for the alga, it uses the minerals and water to make food for the fungus and itself. Algal and fungal components of some lichens have been cultured separately under laboratory conditions, but in the natural environment of a lichen, neither can grow and reproduce without a symbiotic partner. Indeed, although strains of cyanobacteria found in various cyanolichens are often closely related to one another, they differ from the most closely related free-living strains. The lichen association is a close symbiosis: It extends the ecological range of both partners and is obligatory for their growth and reproduction in natural environoments. Propagules ("diaspores") typically contain cells from both partners, although the fungal components of so-called "fringe species" rely instead on algal cells dispersed by the "core species".

Troy and Martha

These odd posts all started over at Katney's.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photo.
I love to see tree trunks with lichens all over ... not only they alwyas allow great photos but are a good sign of fresh clean air to breeeeaaaatttthhhheeeee!!!

Louis la Vache said...

Well, Professors Troy and Martha, as usual "Louis" received an education by stopping by here!

Nice photo, too - and ODD in that it is not exactly the most common subject matter! :-)

Well done!

kjpweb said...

Pretty cool - looks a bit like corals (minus the water).
Cheers, Klaus

Daryl said...

Love it .. it almost looks like coral ...


:-Daryl

Trish ~ ♥ ~ said...

interesting and odd photo

Anonymous said...

how cool is that! we see a lot of green ones around here - but never any this striking color.

terrific find!

abb said...

Wonderful photo - and as always an education! Thank you!

Shelley said...

never seen this color before - nice capture.

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

A beautiful photo. You always share such interesting information, too.

TR Ryan said...

Great photo and very appreciative of the good information that goes along with it. There is always something to learn at Troy and Martha's place.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Troy: What a great shot of the lichen, you captured it really well.

Travis said...

Wonderful photo. An interesting choice for the subject of the photo. Great post.

Hey, I am back blogging! Check out my post to see where I have been.

Marvin said...

And I used to think lichens were a simple form of plant life. Sheeesh!

Great photo -- and you didn't have to chase your subject.

Anonymous said...

That is a dynamic photo, Troy.

Tremendous contrast and I love how the color and detail of the lichen jumps out at you.

Very, very nice.

Jim

Doug Taron said...

That's such a good photo. I really like the colors and textures.

Unknown said...

Nice photo and interesting post as always.

Kathie Brown said...

Troy, that is one gorgeous lichen! This photo is beautiful... It should be framed and hanging in someone's livingroom. It belongs in an art gallery as well as a book about lichens! What are those suction-cup like appendages on the lichen for? I love the ruffly bark or whatever it is growing on the branch also. Great info and an all around good job. Aren't blue-green algea edible? Is this stuff edible? (see, you are waking up my brain and making me ask questions again!)

Livio Bonino said...

Beautiful photo but above all thank for your lesson about the lichens, very interesting.