Our Little Worlds: Lichens and Sparrows

The lichen’s beauty is in the many different colors it can exhibit from rock to rock.

“When you take photos the lichen almost looks like flowers,” Dininger said. “The lichen pulls different minerals out of the rock and that is how they get their color, pink, lavender, orange, yellow, green and even black,” she said. “It’s a very cool phenomena and after it rains the lichen look brilliant.”  ~ Kate Smith, Lichen's Beauty/Live In Full Color, UBC

 O! Pioneers!

The most interesting thing about lichens is that they actually consist of two different kinds of living things-an alga and a fungus. Lichen, therefore, is really a compound creature. This association is called “symbiosis”. The fungus is a network of small fungal root-hairs (called “hyphae”) that mechanically protects the algae which, in turn, produces carbohydrates, organic nitrogen and vitamins, thus providing the fungus with growth materials. In this manner, both organisms benefit.

In fact, scientists have attempted to separate the lichen fungi and algae and then tried to grow them on their own. It didn’t work. Neither could grow without the other.

A community of lichens

Note the large rock at the road junctions on the Fossil Hill Nature Walk. There is almost no bare rock. Lichens of different colors cover virtually all of this rock. Each color indicates a slightly different species of lichens.

Lichens eventually die and, when they do, their decomposition creates a weak solution of carbonic acid that eats into the rock. This “rock dust”, mixed with other organic materials makes a thin soil where mosses can grow. Mosses, in turn, provide a base for grasses and other small plants. Eventually there is enough soil for bushes and trees to get a toe hold. In this manner, with time, rocky outcrops turn into soil and become forests. Lichen, therefore, are “pioneer” plants that start the process of breaking down rocks to produce soil.

 Jerry Fritzke,  Open Space    3/1/03

  Our Ever Economical Creator....And Wild Painter!

Lichens are widespread and may be long-lived; however, many are also vulnerable to environmental disturbance, and may be useful to scientists in assessing the effects of air pollution, ozone depletion, and metal contamination. Lichens have also been used in making dyes and perfumes, as well as in traditional medicines.

...so many different colors, it looks like a discarded artist’s palette... Wikipedia

If you are wondering what prompted this...the flock of sparrows outside my window is upset that I have not put the bird seed out in the back yard. I peeked out to see several on my Rocky Mountain lichen-covered rock.  There is a very cool mountain breeze this morning.