Lichens like me are a mutualistic relationship between a fungi species and cyanobacteria. Sometimes it’s hard to picture, so I will break down what I am, not just who I am, below.
I am most likely classified as a Heterodermia obscurata. I am a multicellular being. To dig a little deeper, my fungi is classified as an Ascomycota. My characteristic ascospores are 21-31 × 12-17 μm in size and serve as my microscopic part contained in an ascus, which distinguishes me from other types of fungi.
(Picture Courtesy of https://slideplayer.com/slide/4015212)
I am composed of a thallus, which is the body of the multicellular, macroscopic part of the fungi. My thallus, which is fabulously displayed above ground where you can see unlike my mycelium and in the picture below, is about 2-4 centimeters in diameter and can grow up to 10 centimeters. The shape of my multicellular part if often describes as “rosettes” that are often spreading or “reaching out.” My thallus is composed of the mycelium, which is a bundle of thread like hyphae that are grouped together.
Now let’s move on to my “better”(equally great) half of this symbiotic relationship: many single celled cyanobacteria
(Picture courtesy of: https://www.microscopemaster.com/cyanobacteria.html)
My cyanobacteria component gives me my beautiful identifying light greenish-blue coloring from my chlorophyll. As shown in the first picture, I am the photobionts under the cortex layer, which means I am capable of photosynthesis via the light reaction and the dark reaction that can then be further used as carbohydrates by my fungi component to gain nutrients in exchange for attachment to the trees near the Chattahoochee River.
Here’s a video on how my cyanobacteria and fungal structures work together:
(Courtesy of Harvard Museum of Natural History)
Now that you know who I am and what I am, I look forward to “growing” this knowledge of my species in the next blog.
CYAnobacteria you later!
Works Cited:
Australian National Herbarium. (n.d.). What is a lichen? Retrieved May 2019, from Australian Lichens: https://www.anbg.gov.au/lichen/what-is-lichen.html
Natinal Science Foundation. (n.d.). Heterodermia obscurata. Retrieved May 2018, from Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria: http://lichenportal.org/portal/taxa/index.php?taxon=55063&clid=1038
Scratchpads. (n.d.). Heterodermia obscurata. Retrieved May 2019, from Fungi and Lichens of Great Britian and Ireland: http://fungi.myspecies.info/all-fungi/heterodermia-obscurata
USDA Forest Service. (n.d.). What are lichens? Retrieved May 2019, from https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/lichens/whatare.shtml