fOR the Past 24 yeaRs, BIOlOgIsts haVe studied lichens in the Great Lakes national park units in considerable detail (see map), including floras and chemical element surveys, for biodiversity and air quality assessments. They have studied lichens because they are sentinel species indicating ecosystem health, and because they are excellent biomonitoring and bioindicator species of air quality. T...

This experiment was aimed at establishing, for the first time, the survival capability of lichens exposed to space conditions. In particular, the damaging effect of various wavelengths of extraterrestrial solar UV radiation was studied. The lichens used were the bipolar species Rhizocarpon geographicum and Xanthoria elegans, which were collected above 2000 m in the mountains of central Spain an...

In the study the activities of polonium 210Po and uranium 234U, 238U radionuclides in moss and lichen samples were determined using the alpha spectrometry. Different lichens and mosses were collected around the Sobieszewo Island (northern Poland) and investigated for potential use as biomonitors for 210Po and 238U deposition. Mosses and lichens have a high efficiency in capturing 210Po and 238U...

A list of 62 taxa (61 species) of lichens and 7 species of lichenicolous fungi from the Una National Park in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina is presented. The lichens Caloplaca crenulatella, Dimerella pineti, Lecanora expallens, Lopadium disciforme, Placynthiella icmalea, Toninia athallina and the lichenicolous fungi Abrothallus bertianus, A. parmeliarum, Cornutispora lichenico...

Lichens are known to be more sensitive indicators of ecosystem functioning and disturbances than any other cryptogams and vascular plant communities. Himalayan habitats, despite their stressed climates, harbor some of the unique biodiversity of the region, vital for overall ecosystem functioning and stability. Lichens, due to their desiccation tolerance, are able to survive in high altitude hab...

Pendulous lichens dominate canopies of boreal forests, with dark Bryoria species in the upper canopy vs. light Alectoria and Usnea species in lower canopy. These genera offer important ecosystem services such as winter forage for reindeer and caribou. The mechanism behind this niche separation is poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that species-specific sunscreening fungal pigments prot...

Antimicrobial activity of the acetone-, methanoland aqueousextracts of the lichens Lecanora atra, L. muralis, Parmelia saxatilis, P. sulcata and Parmeliopsis ambigua was explored in vitro against to six species of bacteria and 10 species of fungi, by the disc-diffusion method and determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) by the Broth tube Dilution method. The aqueous extracts ...

Parmelioid lichens form a species-rich group of predominantly foliose and fruticose lichenized fungi encompassing a broad range of morphological and chemical diversity. Using a multilocus approach, we reconstructed a phylogeny including 323 OTUs of parmelioid lichens and employed ancestral character reconstruction methods to understand the phenotypical evolution within this speciose group of li...

Lichens are considered the result of a symbiotic association of a fungus and an alga. More precisely the term “alga” indicates either a Cyanobacteriae or a Chlorophyceae; the fungus is usually an Ascomycetes, although on rare occasions it may be either a Basidiomycetes or a Phycomycetes. In this association, the alga is the part that is occupied with the formation of nutrients, since it contain...