The Field Museum

I'm Lichen this Car Door [60 Second Specimens]

Ask Emily #11

The tiny lichen Gyalectidium setiferum is spreading in central Europe on suitable evergreen plants due to global warming.

Hoping for global warming after a cold winter... and lichens as bioindicators of climate change

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A recently discovered, yet undescribed "window" lichen from Hawaii

"Window" Lichens Mimic Highly-Adapted Desert Plants

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A recently discovered, yet undescribed window lichen from Hawaii

A selection of charismatic Lobariaceae lichens in New Zealand

Lichens as bioindicators of forest health

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A selection of lichens with "baby" lichens (tiny phyllidia and lobules destined to form new lichen individuals)

How lichens reproduce with "greenhorn" baby lichens...

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A selection of lichens with baby lichens (tiny phyllidia and lobules destined to form new lichen individuals)

The lichenized basidiomycete Marchandiomphalina foliacea with its parasymbiont Norrlinia peltigericola.

A lichen threesome

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A flowering plant in the pineapple family, Tillandsia usneoides, looks and "behaves" ecologically just as a lichen, Ramalina usnea. Both are unrelated but evolved similar morphologies as ecological adaptations.

When relationships aren't what they seem

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Lichens: a lasting relationship like farmers and crops

Three different, unrelated lichen fungi sharing the same photobiont, Rhizonema (depicted in the lower right corner): Acantholichen, Stereocaulon, and Coccocarpia.