Saturday Ro & I enjoyed a morning in Brendan Byrne SF with Karl Anderson, learning how to identify lichens, their various shapes and habitats, etc. Fascinating. We saw lichens on trees, in tree bark crevices, on stone building walls, on concrete sidewalk. Lichens are a combination of a fungus (the structural component) and an algae, the food developer. Scientific names are for the algae since some single fungus species can host different algae species but algae species inhabit only one fungal species. Lichens are mechanically attached to whatever substrate, but not chemically nor biologically; they are not parasitic. While they produce spores, they largely reproduce by shedding a small piece of their colony; their reproduction methods are not well understood.
We identified 24+ different species in a small segment of Brendan Byrne, from needle litter to tree trunks, to dry sand, to road edges, to building and sidewalk. A Great Day, thanks to Karl.
We identified 24+ different species in a small segment of Brendan Byrne, from needle litter to tree trunks, to dry sand, to road edges, to building and sidewalk. A Great Day, thanks to Karl.
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