Dear Twig: In science class we learned about fungi. Lichens were mentioned, too. What are they?
A lichen (pronounced "lie-ken") isn't just one organism. It's two different organisms living together. One's a fungus, which we'll call, oh ... Fred. The other's an alga or a cyanobacterium (what used to be called blue-green algae). We'll call that Wilma. The partnership benefits both of them. Wilma, who's capable of photosynthesis, produces carbohydrates. Fred, who can't do that, gets food from the carbs and gives Wilma a good place to live: a secure, properly sunlit substrate (surface to live on). I don't know the role of Pebbles.
I learned all this in "10 Things You Should Know About Lichens," a fun, fungi-rrific article by Ohio State's David Goerig and Jim Chatfield. (Did you know there's a lichen called the hairball lichen? Me neither!) Write me at ct-oardc@osu.edu or SCT, OARDC, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691 and I'll send you a copy by caribou express! (Caribou eat lichens.)
Twig
P.S. There also are lichens called rock pimples, earth wrinkles, fog fingers and freckle pelts!
Dear Reader: "10 Things You Should Know About Lichens" is also available at http://ohioline.osu.edu/sc195/029.html. David Goerig is an educator in OSU Extension's Mahoning County office. Jim Chatfield is assistant state specialist, landscape horticulture, OSU Extension Center at Wooster. The article appears in Ornamental Plants: Annual Reports and Research Reviews, 2004, Special Circular 195, published by the Ohio Agricultural Rhesearch and Development Center.
"Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick," a service of The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences - specifically, of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and of Ohio State University Extension, both of which are parts of the College - is a weekly column for children about science, nature, farming and the environment. For details and to receive Twig free by mail, e-mail or fax, contact Kurt Knebusch, News and Media Relations, SCT, OSU/OARDC,1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691, knebusch.1@osu.edu, (330) 263-3776. Available online at extension.osu.edu/~news/archive.php?series=science. Available in Spanish as "Cosa Curiosas con Juan Palitos" at extension.osu.edu/~news/archive.php?series=ciencia.
