December meme: Lichen (for Toft)
Dec. 9th, 2013 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI have finished first drafts of both my dSSS and Yuletide, wooo! Now I just need to revise them, which they very probably need. Also, this weekend I was at a workshop on methods in environmental activism, and it was sooooo great! I met some new people who were really interesting, and I'm just full of inspiration. \o/
So, December meme!toft wanted me to talk about lichen.
My interest in lichen is partly utilitarian, and partly just geeky. The utilitarian part comes from working with environmental forest issues. If you want to save a forest from being cut down, one way of doing that is to argue that it contains many threatened species. And to do that, you have to be able to find those species. Boreal forests are rich in cryptogams (mosses, lichens and fungi), and they're also possible to find and identify in all seasons (except when they're covered in snow), so they are one of the main groups used for this purpose. Obviously we also want to save these threatened species! They're not just a tool. But the overall goal is to save the whole ecosystem, so in practice they are often a means to an end.
Here is one of the more spectacular species on the Swedish red list of endangered species: Lobaria pulmonaria, which is named "lung lichen" in Swedish (also see the Latin species name) because it looks kind of like a lung. There are relatives of this lichen in the Pacific Northwest and other wet temperate places in the world.
So, the geeky part. I have drawings from when I was a kid of buttercups, where I've written "the Ranunculus genus" on the side in shaky little-kid lettering. So obviously I came by my biology geekery early (both my parents are biologists of some sort).
Many people start out geeking on birds, but I skipped that step and even now I am not that good at bird species. But I feel I don't have to be, because there are so many people who know them. I started out with vascular plants, of which there are about 2000 species in Sweden, and more specifically, I learned how to use species-determination keys by practicing on the Carex genus (sedges). There are about a hundred sedges in Sweden, and they're a group I really like. I've seen about 75% of them, I think (don't have my flora here right now).
So after that, lichen was the next group I tackled, because by then I'd gotten into forest issues and knew that learning cryptogams would be useful. This was around 2004.
Lichens are pretty cool organisms. They're symbioses of fungi and single-celled algae, where the fungi provide the outer "housing" of the organism and protect the algae, while the algae photosynthesize and produce energy. This arrangement makes them able to live in some pretty extreme environments, like mountaintops. They reproduce both sexually and asexually. If they reproduce sexually, we really mean that the fungus does so, and when it sends out a spore, that spore has to find free-living algae of the right species in order to make a new lichen. If you look at the Lobaria photo linked above, you can see the little red buttons that are the result of the sexual reproduction.
Almost all fungi in lichen are ascomycetes, which make little cup- or button-shaped containers (apothecia) for their spores rather than the mushroom-shaped spore-carriers that basidiomycetes make (these are what we usually think of when we think of fungi). Lichen also reproduce asexually, by breaking off little pieces or sending out little fungi-and-algae balls (soredia) to make new lichen. (Also the fungi can make asexual spores, but let us not go into fungi reproduction in detail. That way lies tl;dr.)
So, lichens are a bit more challenging than vascular plants. There are about as many lichen species as there are vascular plants in Sweden, but with vascular plants you're usually fine with a hand-held lens and a flora (as long as you don't go into the apomictic groups like dandelions and hawkweeds that have hundreds of sub-species and require a lifetime of study). With lichen, you often need microscopes and chemicals and stuff for species determination. That said, there are plenty of lichens that are easy for beginners, especially the leaf-shaped and bush-shaped sort of lichens (reindeer lichen are an example of the latter). About 75% of the Swedish lichens are crusts that grow on rocks or trees or earth, though, and these are often quite hard. I haven't really ventured that deeply into them.
I don't really look a lot at lichen nowadays, because I went on to also look at mosses and a little bit at fungi, and then went on to some of the easier insect groups (the large daytime butterflies, bumblebees, grasshoppers, dragonflies, etc, and then to hoverflies, which are a bit more of a challenge). The group I've been most into the last years has been mosses, I guess. Wow, I have soooo many specimens that I need to sit down and determine. I usually do this in the winter when you can't be outside as much.
So what is it that I enjoy about this? I guess one part of it is a sort of collecting instinct, though I don't actually collect species physically—I just note them down in my field diary and mark them in the flora with year and location of the first time I saw the species. Also, it's just really satisfying to work my way through the species determination key and get to the right species, kind of like detective work? Fairly often I don't get there because it's just too hard, but it's really satisfying when I do. And it combines with other interests that I have, like being outdoors, and working with environmental issues. Also, Sweden has a strong tradition of amateur naturalists interested in various species groups, and it's not hard to find other people to geek out with.
So, December meme!
toft wanted me to talk about lichen.My interest in lichen is partly utilitarian, and partly just geeky. The utilitarian part comes from working with environmental forest issues. If you want to save a forest from being cut down, one way of doing that is to argue that it contains many threatened species. And to do that, you have to be able to find those species. Boreal forests are rich in cryptogams (mosses, lichens and fungi), and they're also possible to find and identify in all seasons (except when they're covered in snow), so they are one of the main groups used for this purpose. Obviously we also want to save these threatened species! They're not just a tool. But the overall goal is to save the whole ecosystem, so in practice they are often a means to an end.
Here is one of the more spectacular species on the Swedish red list of endangered species: Lobaria pulmonaria, which is named "lung lichen" in Swedish (also see the Latin species name) because it looks kind of like a lung. There are relatives of this lichen in the Pacific Northwest and other wet temperate places in the world.
So, the geeky part. I have drawings from when I was a kid of buttercups, where I've written "the Ranunculus genus" on the side in shaky little-kid lettering. So obviously I came by my biology geekery early (both my parents are biologists of some sort).
Many people start out geeking on birds, but I skipped that step and even now I am not that good at bird species. But I feel I don't have to be, because there are so many people who know them. I started out with vascular plants, of which there are about 2000 species in Sweden, and more specifically, I learned how to use species-determination keys by practicing on the Carex genus (sedges). There are about a hundred sedges in Sweden, and they're a group I really like. I've seen about 75% of them, I think (don't have my flora here right now).
So after that, lichen was the next group I tackled, because by then I'd gotten into forest issues and knew that learning cryptogams would be useful. This was around 2004.
Lichens are pretty cool organisms. They're symbioses of fungi and single-celled algae, where the fungi provide the outer "housing" of the organism and protect the algae, while the algae photosynthesize and produce energy. This arrangement makes them able to live in some pretty extreme environments, like mountaintops. They reproduce both sexually and asexually. If they reproduce sexually, we really mean that the fungus does so, and when it sends out a spore, that spore has to find free-living algae of the right species in order to make a new lichen. If you look at the Lobaria photo linked above, you can see the little red buttons that are the result of the sexual reproduction.
Almost all fungi in lichen are ascomycetes, which make little cup- or button-shaped containers (apothecia) for their spores rather than the mushroom-shaped spore-carriers that basidiomycetes make (these are what we usually think of when we think of fungi). Lichen also reproduce asexually, by breaking off little pieces or sending out little fungi-and-algae balls (soredia) to make new lichen. (Also the fungi can make asexual spores, but let us not go into fungi reproduction in detail. That way lies tl;dr.)
So, lichens are a bit more challenging than vascular plants. There are about as many lichen species as there are vascular plants in Sweden, but with vascular plants you're usually fine with a hand-held lens and a flora (as long as you don't go into the apomictic groups like dandelions and hawkweeds that have hundreds of sub-species and require a lifetime of study). With lichen, you often need microscopes and chemicals and stuff for species determination. That said, there are plenty of lichens that are easy for beginners, especially the leaf-shaped and bush-shaped sort of lichens (reindeer lichen are an example of the latter). About 75% of the Swedish lichens are crusts that grow on rocks or trees or earth, though, and these are often quite hard. I haven't really ventured that deeply into them.
I don't really look a lot at lichen nowadays, because I went on to also look at mosses and a little bit at fungi, and then went on to some of the easier insect groups (the large daytime butterflies, bumblebees, grasshoppers, dragonflies, etc, and then to hoverflies, which are a bit more of a challenge). The group I've been most into the last years has been mosses, I guess. Wow, I have soooo many specimens that I need to sit down and determine. I usually do this in the winter when you can't be outside as much.
So what is it that I enjoy about this? I guess one part of it is a sort of collecting instinct, though I don't actually collect species physically—I just note them down in my field diary and mark them in the flora with year and location of the first time I saw the species. Also, it's just really satisfying to work my way through the species determination key and get to the right species, kind of like detective work? Fairly often I don't get there because it's just too hard, but it's really satisfying when I do. And it combines with other interests that I have, like being outdoors, and working with environmental issues. Also, Sweden has a strong tradition of amateur naturalists interested in various species groups, and it's not hard to find other people to geek out with.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-09 03:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-09 03:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-10 12:40 am (UTC)Also, hahaha, I see I am the second of two commenters to mention Stephen Maturin!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-10 02:12 pm (UTC)Stephen seems like the natural fannish reference for lichen? Along with Benton Fraser, I guess. *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-11 05:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-11 01:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-11 05:18 pm (UTC)(And in fanfic, as we know, there's a big difference between "writing Fraser and lichen" and "writing Fraser/lichen". LOL.)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-11 06:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-11 08:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-11 08:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-12 08:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-12 09:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-12 10:29 am (UTC)I live and learn.
This icon here I'm using because I made it in... 2003 I think it was. It was my default for years, too. I still like it.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-12 10:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-12 10:44 am (UTC)I'd use the December meme to ask you about "why this plant" and "tell me more", but I suspect you've done it at some point in fandom's history and you're probably tired of that question :)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-12 10:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-12 11:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-09 10:29 pm (UTC)as long as you don't go into the apomictic groups like dandelions and hawkweeds that have hundreds of sub-species and require a lifetime of study
In the US, I've heard these referred to collectively as DYCs, or "damned yellow composites" -- and in fact have personally adopted the term. *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-10 08:31 am (UTC)