Lichens and the Land

Instructors: Tristan Knight, Terrastory Environmental Consulting, and Bob Bowles, Coordinator of the Ontario Master Naturalist Program

Description: Lichens play an important role in the environment, as they are the pioneer species that establish on barren habitat, paving the way for mosses and then plants. Lichens are composite organisms made up of fungi, algae, and cyanobacteria and this workshop will focus on identifying them in systematic ways. The focus of this workshop will be corticolous lichens growing on tree bark, limbs and branches in local woodlots, and saxicolous lichens growing on both calcareous and siliceous rocks, concrete and cement. In the field, we will look closely at lichen species in forests around the Lakehead campus and the special alvar species at Carden Alvar.