Sal

The book arrived :D Exciting!

I do want to try the single-spore isolation technique at some point.

That's a good idea, I will give it a try. I also want to learn more about how to apply dyes to see the different structures.

I have been looking for good books on fungi and lichen. I have ordered that book, should arrive this week! Thank you for the recommendation

Absolutely stunning!

Thanks! Today I collected a tiny piece of the lichen and set up a new experiment to grow the algae!

The lichen organism consists of a combination of different species combining into one — a form of symbiosis. Generally, the lichen consists of at least one species of fungus, known as the mycobiont, and at least one photosynthetic alga or a cyanobacterium as a symbiotic partner, known as the photobiont. It is possible to have more complicated mixtures, not necessarily only two.

The fungus grows on a surface and then undergoes a process of lichenization. In this process, it can capture its companion from the environment (it may arrive via arthropod activity, such as through saliva or feces), and then produces structures within which they reside, as shown in the diagram below.

Source: New Phytologist

This relationship is beneficial to both organisms because the lichen can "mine" nutrients like phosphorus and also provide protection, while the photobiont can make use of light to produce sugars for the fungus.

It is difficult to cultivate these by picking one from the wild (except perhaps if you bring the lichen along with the surface it lives on), because this state of symbiosis is strongly adapted to the surface the lichen grows on and it has gone through a developmental history that is not easy to replicate from a small fragment.

One way to grow a few specific species of lichen is through a process of re-synthesis. This process consists of first growing the fungus and the algae separately, and then re-combining them to create the lichen.

Source: BMC Genomics

I still have not gotten to the point... but I have read about it and I think I now know how to do it. I need to make an agar plate like the ones I showed in the post that contains nutrients, but then place a thin regenerated cellulose or cellophane membrane on top of it that allows nutrients to flow slowly, but that the fungus is unable to penetrate, forcing it to only grow in a plane. After it has grown for a couple of days, the algae can be added in a specific ratio for the fungus to capture and become a lichen.

Hope this explanation helps clarify!

Here is also a very nice video on lichens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GOgiJlHkcY

Awesome, thanks! I will look into it.

Ahh thanks! Great to go back to those days. Really miss recording that show.

The end of what? When I go to that video on Youtube I enter a continuous 'live stream' with no end.

You are welcome! Wanted to do this for some time and writing about it is a way to force myself to think about what I see more carefully.

That is very cool! I did not know they were producing in Switzerland. I would like to visit. Do you know if they routinely open to the public?

I wonder if the "magic sauce" is a polyimide. Those polymers are often used as the dielectric layer to make capacitors that are humidity-sensitive. These polymers have sites into which water molecules can reversibly dock such that the occupancy at equilibrium is proportional to the % relative humidity.

That is true. To me, the sensor data in itself is of value because I am interested in learning about, for example, whether the CO2 emission changes while the fruiting happens. But it is definitely not necessary for achieving good results. I see it more like a hobby on top of a hobby. Hobby stacking!

Are the mods just going to sit there and do nothing while jared doxes me?!?!?!

That 'every episode compilation' is great! Skipped through it trying to find my appearance (no success yet) and found many skits I have never seen before.

No need to be approved! Please, 100%, would love a Lichens community!