The rainforest fjords of Southeastern Alaska harbour one of the highest concentrations of lichen diversity found anywhere on Earth, according to a new study spearheaded by University of Alberta scientists.
Ecology
May 12, 2020
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10
You've probably seen a lichen, even if you didn't realize it. If you've ever meandered through the forest and wondered what the crusty stuff on trees or rocks was, they're lichens, a combination of algae and fungi living ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 15, 2019
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365
When a wildfire obliterates a forest, the first life to rise from the ashes is usually a fungus—one of several species that cannot complete its life cycle in the absence of fire. Scientists have long argued about where ...
Ecology
Oct 25, 2019
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360
The iron smelters and coal-fired power plants may be gone, but the imprint of a rust-belt region's industrial legacy remains in its lichen communities. Lichens are the proverbial "canaries in the coal mine" when it comes ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 7, 2019
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4
When an asteroid smacked into the Earth 66 million years ago, it triggered mass extinctions all over the planet. The most famous victims were the dinosaurs, but early birds, insects, and other life forms took a hit too. The ...
Evolution
Jun 28, 2019
2
3
A spider expert at the Manchester Museum has confirmed a new species of jumping spider discovered in a park in Hong Kong. The unique spider bears a striking resemblance to a caterpillar leading it to be named Uroballus Carlei, ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 16, 2019
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5
Two Canadian biologists are proposing a better way to assess the conservation value of old-growth forests in North America—using lichens, sensitive bioindicators of environmental change.
Environment
Mar 5, 2019
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3140
Individual lichens may contain up to three different fungi, according to new research from an international team of researchers. This evidence provides new insight into another recent discovery that showed lichen are made ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 17, 2019
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991
They are a natural fertilizer for the forest, great construction material for birds' nests and an important indicator of how polluted the air is. And yet scientists know very little about the genetic diversity of lichens—symbiotic ...
Ecology
Aug 30, 2018
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1
As increasingly hot and severe wildfires scorch the West, some lichen communities integral to conifer forests aren't returning, even years after the flames have been extinguished, according to a study from scientists at the ...
Environment
Aug 9, 2018
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