A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship. Lichens are important actors in nutrient cycling and act as producers which many higher trophic feeders feed on, such as reindeer, gastropods, nematodes, mites, and springtails. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms. They come in many colors, sizes, and forms and are sometimes plant-like, but are not plants. They may have tiny, leafless branches (fruticose); flat leaf-like structures (foliose); grow crust-like, adhering tightly to a surface (substrate) like a thick coat of paint (crustose); have a powder-like appearance (leprose); or other growth forms.
The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: Xanthoparmelia, Usnea, Parmotrema, and Hypotrachyna.
The Leotiomycetes are a class of ascomycete fungi. Many of them cause serious plant diseases.
The Hygrophoraceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Originally conceived as containing white-spored, thick-gilled agarics, including Hygrophorus and Hygrocybe species, DNA evidence has extended the limits of the family, so it now contains not only agarics, but also basidiolichens and corticioid fungi. Species are thus diverse and are variously ectomycorrhizal, lichenized, associated with mosses, or saprotrophic. The family contains 34 genera and over 1000 species. None is of any great economic importance, though fruit bodies of some Hygrocybe and Hygrophorus species are considered edible and may be collected for sale in local markets.
The Clavulinaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family is not well defined, but currently comprises species of clavarioid fungi as well as some corticioid fungi. These species are nutritionally diverse, some being ectomycorrhizal, others wood-rotting saprotrophs, others lichenized, and yet others lichenicolous.
The wildlife of Ghana is composed of its biodiversity of flora and fauna.
Atheliaceae is a family of corticioid fungi placed under the monotypic order Atheliales. Both the order and the family were described by Walter Jülich in 1981. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 20 genera and approximately 100 species. However, many genera formerly considered to belong in the Atheliaceae have since been moved to other families, including Amylocorticiaceae, Albatrellaceae, and Hygrophoraceae. Despite being a relatively small group with inconspicuous forms, Atheliaceae members show great diversity in life strategies and are widespread in distribution. Additionally, being a group strictly composed of corticioid fungi, they may also provide insights on the evolution of fruiting body forms in basidiomycetes.
The Lecanoraceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. Species of this family have a widespread distribution.
Verrucariaceae is a family of lichens and a few non-lichenised fungi in the order Verrucariales. The lichens have a wide variety of thallus forms, from crustose (crust-like) to foliose (bushy) and squamulose (scaly). Most of them grow on land, some in freshwater and a few in the sea. Many are free-living but there are some species that are parasites on other lichens, while one marine species always lives together with a leafy green alga.
Buellia is a genus of mostly lichen-forming fungi in the family Caliciaceae. The fungi are usually part of a crustose lichen. In this case, the lichen species is given the same name as the fungus. But members may also grow as parasites on lichens (lichenicolous). The algae in the lichen is always a member of the genus Trebouxia.
Amylocorticiales is an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order was circumscribed in 2010 to contain mostly resupinate (crust-like) forms that have been referred to genera Anomoporia, Amyloathelia, Amylocorticiellum, Amylocorticium, Amyloxenasma, Anomoloma, Athelopsis, Ceraceomyces, Hypochniciellum, Leptosporomyces and Serpulomyces and the anomalous species, Athelia rolfsii, now classified in its own genus, Agroathelia.
André Aptroot is a Dutch mycologist and lichenologist.
Collar rot is a symptomatically described disease that is usually caused by any one of various fungal and oomycete plant pathogens. It is present where the pathogen causes a lesion localized at or about the collet between the stem and the root. The lesions develop around the stem eventually forming a "collar". Observationally, collar rot grades into "basal stem rot", and with some pathogens is the first phase of "basal stem rot" often followed by "root rot". Collar rot is most often observed in seedings grown in infected soil. The pathogens that cause collar rot may be species or genera specific. But generalist pathogens such as Agroathelia rolfsii are known to attack over 200 different species. While bacteria caused collar rot is not common, trees infected with Fire blight may develop collar rot. Non-parasitic collar rot may be caused by winter damage.
Fibularhizoctonia is a genus of fungus in the Atheliaceae family. The genus, circumscribed in 1996, contains three widespread species that are anamorphs of Athelia. One species of Fibularhizoctonia is commonly known as the cuckoo fungus because it makes sclerotia, also called termite balls, which mimic termite eggs. The name Athelia termitophila sp. nov. has been proposed for the teleomorph of termite balls. The generic name had been incorrectly modified to "Fibulorhizoctonia" in some publications but this change is not a nomenclaturally supportable spelling correction. The genome sequences of two species of Fibularhizoctonia have been described.
Lepraria incana is a species of dust lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. First described scientifically by Johann Jacob Dillenius in 1741, and then formally by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, it is the type species of the genus Lepraria. The thallus of this species is green to greyish-green, and powdery – as if made of tiny granules. These granules are soredia, which are asexual reproductive structures. Like most members of genus Lepraria, the lichen has few distinguishing features, lacking both a medulla and sexual reproductive structures (apothecia). Chemically, the lichen is characterised by the presence of the secondary chemicals known as divaricatic acid and zeorin.
Robert Lücking is a German lichenologist. He earned his master's and PhD from the University of Ulm, focusing on the taxonomy, ecology, and biodiversity of foliicolous lichens. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Mason E. Hale award for his doctoral thesis, the Augustin Pyramus de Candolle prize for his monograph, and the Tuckerman Award twice for his publications in The Bryologist. Since 2015, he has been serving as the curator of lichens, fungi, and bryophytes at the Berlin Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum, and several lichen species and a genus have been named in his honour.
Agroathelia is a fungal genus currently consisting of one widespread and two other species. Agroathelia rolfsii, the type species, causes serious diseases of cultivated crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes among many other hosts. It is better known under the names Sclerotium rolfsii or Athelia rolfsii.
Agroathelia rolfsii is a corticioid fungus in the order Amylocorticiales. It is a facultative plant pathogen and is the causal agent of "southern blight" disease in crops.
