Mosses: A plant that has no flowers and grows as small leafy stems in patches like cushions clinging to rocks, bark, or the damp ground.
Lichen: A plant-like organism made up of algae and fungus growing together. The algae produces food from the sun via photosynthesis, while the fungus absorbs moisture and provides the protective framework structure for the algae.
Algae: Any of a large group of simple plants and plant-like organisms (like seaweed) that usually grow in water and produce chlorophyll like plants, but do not produce seeds.
Fungus: Member of the kingdom of living things (as mushrooms, molds, and rusts) that have no chlorophyll and must live in or on plants, animals, or decaying material.
Definitions From: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Definitions:
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ID Characteristics

Funky Facts!

References/More Information
lichen
What is a Lichen?
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"Lichens are fungi that have discovered agriculture"-- lichenologist Trevor Goward.
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Lichens are symbionts: they are organisms consisting of multiple species! One lichen will include at least one fungus, in addition to algae or cyanobacteria.
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Algae and cyanobacteria are photobionts - they produce food from the sun by photosynthesis. The fungal cells alter the photobiotic cells to allow easy absorption of the carbohydrates they produce.
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Many lichens have multiple kinds of fungi, perhaps including yeasts. This information was just discovered in 2016!
What is Lichen’s Role in an Ecosystem?
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While the algae/cyanobacteria makes food for the fungus part of lichen, many lichens are eaten by herbivores. In North America, lichen may be 50% of the diet of caribou!
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Here in the Great Basin, dark brown lichens can be found on the ground as a “soil crust.” The soil crust can help to hold in moisture.
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Many lichens can fix nitrogen - or transform nitrogen from the air into a form that plants can use - which helps plants grow!
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Lichens on rocks can squeeze their hyphae into tiny cracks, helping to break larger rocks into smaller pieces, eventually into soil.




Gold Cobblestone is known for its bright lemon color. It likes to grow on cliffs and boulders, creating a thin and tight bond. Gold Cobblestone, like other lichens, reproduce by breaking off and starting to grow wherever the broken part lands. The spores of this lichen grow out in a circular manner and are 1mm wide.
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Gold Cobblestone is extremely hardy, it is one of the few species able to survive at high altitudes in Antarctica and can cope with high levels of UV light.
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Gold Cobblestone was placed in a chamber that simulated life on Mars for 34 days, and during that time it continued to photosynthesis and grow!
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Gold Cobblestone is a crustose lichen, meaning that it forms a crust on the object it is adhering to, and so it cannot be separated without destroying the object it adhered to.
Encyclopedia of Life: Pleopsidium chlorophanum.
Encyclopædia Britannica: Lichen.
White Rim Lichen (Lecanora rupicola)




Photo by Jason Hollinger
White Rim Lichen form mosaic-like patches that reach around 10 centimeters in diameter. They are usually cracked and uneven in appearance with a whitish grey coloration and may contain black spots within the lichen.
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Another lichen species Arthonia varians, lives within and takes nutrients from the white rim lichen
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Due to being a lichen, this species has an algae partner that it is completely codependent on. This algae is named Trebouxia
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Has a preference for living on granite!
iNaturalist: White Rim Lichen
Lichens marins: Lecanora rupicola
Google Books: Lichens of North America
Gold Cobblestone
(Pleopsidium chlorophanum):
moss
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Mosses are a type of bryophyte. Bryophytes are ancient plants, distinct for not having a vascular system (roots & veins to distribute water and nutrients) while also living on land.
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Without depending on roots, bryophytes can grow on tough soil, on tree bark, and even on rocks.
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They can hold onto their substrate (the thing they’re growing on) with extensions called rhizoids (analogous to rhizines on lichens).
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Mosses still have stems and leaves, and these leaves may be just one cell thick.
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Instead of having seeds like most land plants, mosses reproduce with spores.
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But just like other plants, mosses are green and make their own food by photosynthesis.
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Many organisms that are not bryophytes have “moss” in their common names (e.g., reindeer moss, a lichen; club moss, a vascular plant). This can be confusing, but one can learn to identify a moss by its structure!
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While more common in wet environments, there are more than 300 species of bryophytes in Nevada, and at least 88 species in Washoe County alone!
What is Moss?
fungi

