With this paper, I focus on a topic that, in my opinion, is worth consideration by scientific community involved in the conservation of cultural heritage. As far the role that biofilms and lichens play in the weathering of natural and artificial stones, an increasing number of researches account for a negligible effect and even for a protection. Thus, the axiomatic correlation among biofilms, l...

We speculate that heterotrophic and/or silica-rich eukaryotic microorganisms maybe an important part of the lichen symbiosis. None of the very few studies of heterotrophic protists associated with lichens have considered the possibility that they may be of functional significance in the lichen symbiosis. Here we start to develop, currently speculative, theoretical ideas about their potential si...

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) are large Holarctic herbivores whose heterogeneous diet has led to the development of a unique gastrointestinal microbiota, essential for the digestion of arctic flora, which may include a large proportion of lichens during winter. Lichens are rich in plant secondary metabolites, which may affect members of the gut microbial consortium, such as the methane-...

Hydrogen is a promising future energy source. Although the ability of green algae to produce hydrogen has long been recognized (since 1939) and several biotechnological applications have been attempted, the greatest obstacle, being the O2-sensitivity of the hydrogenase enzyme, has not yet been overcome. In the present contribution, 75 years after the first report on algal hydrogen production, t...

Phytase activity was investigated in 13 lichen species using a novel assay method. The work tested the hypothesis that phytase is a component of the suite of surface-bound lichen enzymes that hydrolyse simple organic forms of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) deposited onto the thallus surface. Hydrolysis of inositol hexaphosphate (InsP6 , the substrate for phytase) and appearance of lower-order ...

The science of lichenology, or the study of lichens, has lagged behind other branches of botany, and many aspects of lichen biology are still shrouded with mystery. In fact, the most mysterious aspect of these plants, and the one basic to understanding them, was not known until the relatively late date of 1867: that although outwardly lichens appear to be discrete organisms, they are in fact ma...

1. Climate change in the subarctic is expected to influence vegetation composition, specifically bryophyte and lichen communities, thereby modifying litter decomposition rates and carbon (C) dynamics of these systems with possible feedbacks to climate. 2. In a two-year experiment, we investigated decomposition rates and chemical traits of 27 bryophytes, 17 lichens and 5 vascular plants in litte...

The fossil record of lichens is scarce and many putative fossil lichens do not show an actual physiological relationship between mycobionts and photobionts or a typical habit, and are therefore disputed. Amber has preserved a huge variety of organisms in microscopic fidelity, and so the study of amber fossils is promising for elucidating the fossil history of lichens. However, so far it has not...

Several studies carried out after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 showed that lichens and mosses are suitable bioindicators of the fall-out, given their long life expectancy. Cs-137 activities were measured in different mosses, epigeic and epiphytic lichens, collected from three sampling sites from Koppl, in the Salzburg province and the effective and biological half-time of Cs-137 were ...

Stable isotope patterns in lichens are known to vary largely, but effects of substrate on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures of lichens were previously not investigated systematically. N and C contents and stable isotope (δ(15)N, δ(13)C) patterns have been measured in 92 lichen specimens of Xanthoria parietina from southern Bavaria growing on different substrates (bark and stone). Ph...