Lichens

Lichenes by Ernst Haeckel

What in nature could be more easily overlooked than lichens?  They’re so common and unobstrusive, that it’s easy to take them for granted.  In recent years however, scientists have discovered their value as bioindicators of air quality.  Research has shown that strong lichen growth in an area is an indicator of clean air.  Back in 2001, scientists Bibeau and Chevalier from the University of Quebec were able to show a link between lichen growth in areas around Montreal and incidences of hospitalization for respiratory problems in children. 

A lichen is basically an agreement between a fungus and an algae. The fungus provides a stable home and the algae provides the food.  It’s a very productive partnership.  Lichens are especially useful in forests as nitrogen-fixers.  Many birds use lichens for nest building.  In the Arctic lichens provide 90% of the caribou’s winter diet.  Locally, they’re eaten by grouse.  Traditionally they’ve been used as dyes and medicines by native people.  Ernst Haeckel, who created the above picture at the beginning of the 20th century, saw them as artforms in nature.  They are indeed beautiful.

My first encounters with lichens were of the reindeer variety on rocks in Northern Ontario.  They would crunch under my feet in the summer as I was picking blueberries.  Here in Cow Bay, they adorn trees as ‘Old Man’s Beard’ (Usnea hirta), and in a variety of forms can be found on the surfaces of tree bark, stones, as well as the siding on my house.

To find them in abundance is to find a corner of the universe where the environment is still pure and unspoiled.    ~ Irwin M. Brodo, Lichens of North America

Since lichens absorb everything that comes their way in the environment, they prefer unpolluted landscapes.  It’s a comfort to me (and my lungs) to see them thriving around the Flandrum Hill area.

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