Rocky Shores, by John Archer–Thompson and Julian Cremona 2019. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. “Rocky shores are one of the most extreme environments on the planet.” [Anon.] This is a BOTANY blog site! OK, let’s...
Tag - lichens
Nigel Chaffey
Potential risk of photo-damage in Antarctic photosynthetic organisms
Light is indispensable for photosynthetic organisms, but excess light energy causes damage in photosystems and readily leads to cell death in severe environments such as Antarctica. Kosugi et al. determine reaction...
Alex Assiry
Plectocarpon lichenum: the parasite that makes itself comfortable when it moves into a lichen
What happens when an unwanted visitor infects a lichen? Plectocarpon lichenum makes it harder for its host to eject it.
Alun Salt
Botany really rocks!
For a plant life on the edge, like on a cliff face, should be peaceful. But Nigel Chaffey discovers one species has a real talent for annoying others.
Lichens, thale cress, tobacco, the great survivors…
It is often said that cockroaches are one of the hardiest of animals, allegedly able to withstand a nuclear holocaust. Well, serious contenders amongst the plant-like critters are lichens, thale cress and tobacco...
Extreme phenotypic variation and fitness in lichens
Phenotypic variability is a successful strategy in lichens for colonizing different habitats. Pérez-Ortega et al. study the extreme phenotypic modifications shown by vagrant populations of the cosmopolitan shrubby...
botanyone
Every day is Dewsday in the forest…
The dew point is ‘the temperature to which a volume of humid air must be cooled… for water vapor to condense into liquid water’, and is usually an early-morning or early-evening phenomenon in nature. OK, but, ‘what is...
Say it with… fungi?
I’ve often thought it must be great to be remembered in a scientific binomial (but, as a botanist, it has to be a suitable plant): for most of us that is probably the closest to immortality that we can probably achieve...
