Mat-forming lichens are important components of tundra and alpine vegetation, and affect soil microclimatic conditions, which in turn may influence micro-arthropod communities. Here, we compare the density of Collembola and Oribatida within lichen mats and their abundance in the underlying soil across four different mat-forming lichens at Finse, southern Norway. The lichen mats consisted of Alectoria ochroleuca, Cetraria islandica, Cladonia rangiferina/stygia, or Flavocetraria nivalis. We hypothesized … Read more... 

Lichens, symbiotic holobionts composed of fungi and photosynthetic partners, are a prolific yet underexploited source of unique secondary metabolites. This review synthesizes current research on lichen-derived compounds, including contributions from mycobionts, photobionts, cyano-bionts, and endo-lichenic fungi (ELF), emphasizing their significant capability across pharmaceutical, agricultural, cosmetic, and nanotechnological domains. We bring attention to evolving facets of lichen biology, such … Read more... 

Fungal ecologists have long been intrigued by the mechanisms behind the high fungal species richness in dead wood at small and large spatial scales. We identified processes resulting in fine-scale fungal community patterns with a network analysis based on a detailed metabarcode mapping of fungi in and on the surfaces of eight naturally fallen Norway spruce logs in northern Sweden. Our results show that (1) dominant species and communities of fungi vary significantly among the logs, (2) wood inside … Read more... 

The paper discusses the history of the Hawksworth-Rose lichen scale (1970), which played a very important role in the development of bioindication studies and monitoring of atmospheric pollution in Europe. This scale was created to assess air pollution with sulfur dioxide in the period when its concentrations reached unprecedented values today. Due to the significant improvement in air quality and a clear decrease in SO2 concentrations in recent years (below the lower threshold of lichen sensitivity … Read more... 

Old cultural landscapes, such as old parks and gardens, can be expected to be rich lichen habitats, as they offer otherwise rare microstructures and a high habitat continuity. Yet, old parks are not well studied with regard to their lichen flora. In this study, we investigated three old castle parks in southwest Germany and recorded the epiphytic (bark-inhabiting) lichen flora on 205 native and non-native trees, belonging to 63 tree species. We surveyed lichens on tree stems and assessed tree diameter, … Read more...