Nuclear winter is a severe and prolonged global climatic cooling effect that is hypothesized to occur after widespread firestorms following a large-scale nuclear war. The hypothesis is based on the fact that such fires can inject soot into the stratosphere, where it can block some direct sunlight from reaching the surface of the Earth. It is speculated that the resulting cooling would lead to widespread crop failure and famine. When developing computer models of nuclear-winter scenarios, researchers use the conventional bombing of Hamburg, and the Hiroshima firestorm in World War II as example cases where soot might have been injected into the stratosphere, alongside modern observations of natural, large-area wildfire-firestorms.
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.
Cladonia rangiferina, also known as reindeer cup lichen, reindeer lichen or grey reindeer lichen, is a light-colored fruticose, cup lichen species in the family Cladoniaceae. It grows in both hot and cold climates in well-drained, open environments. Found primarily in areas of alpine tundra, it is extremely cold-hardy.
In archaeology, palaeontology, and geomorphology, lichenometry is a geomorphic method of geochronologic dating that uses lichen growth to determine the age of exposed rock, based on a presumed specific rate of increase in radial size over time. Measuring the diameter of the largest lichen of a species on a rock surface can therefore be used to determine the length of time the rock has been exposed. Lichen can be preserved on old rock faces for up to 10,000 years, providing the maximum age limit of the technique, though it is most accurate when applied to surfaces that have been exposed for less than 1,000 years. Lichenometry is especially useful for dating surfaces less than 500 years old, as radiocarbon dating techniques are less accurate over this period. The lichens most commonly used for lichenometry are those of the genera Rhizocarpon and Xanthoria. The measured growth rates of R. geographicum tends to fall within the range of 0.9–0.3 millimeter per year, depending on several factors, including the size of the lichen patch.
Fragmentation in multicellular or colonial organisms is a form of asexual reproduction or cloning, where an organism is split into fragments. Each of these fragments develops into mature, fully grown individuals that are clones of the original organism.
The flora of Western Australia comprises 10,551 published native vascular plant species and a further 1,131 unpublished species. They occur within 1,543 genera from 211 families; there are also 1,317 naturalised alien or invasive plant species more commonly known as weeds. There are an estimated 150,000 cryptogam species or nonvascular plants which include lichens, and fungi although only 1,786 species have been published, with 948 algae and 672 lichen the majority.
Lobaria pulmonaria is a large epiphytic lichen consisting of an ascomycete fungus and a green algal partner living together in a symbiotic relationship with a cyanobacterium—a symbiosis involving members of three kingdoms of organisms. Commonly known by various names like tree lungwort, lung lichen, lung moss, lungwort lichen, oak lungs or oak lungwort, it is sensitive to air pollution and is also harmed by habitat loss and changes in forestry practices. Its population has declined across Europe and L. pulmonaria is considered endangered in many lowland areas. The species has a history of use in herbal medicines, and recent research has corroborated some medicinal properties of lichen extracts.
Calicium is a genus of leprose lichens. It is in the family Caliciaceae.
Cyphelium is a genus of crustose areolate lichens with cup-like apothecia filled with sooty black spores. The genus is in the family Caliciaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution, especially in north and south temperate regions, and contains about 12 species. Members of the genus are commonly called soot lichens.
Texosporium is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Caliciaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Texosporium sancti-jacobi, found in the United States. The genus is characterized by microscopic features: the ascospores are coated with a layer of cells that are derived from the paraphyses. Texosporium was originally circumscribed by Josef Nádvorník in 1942, albeit the name was not validly published. In 1968, Leif Tibell and Angelica van Hofsten published the name validly. In 2020, Texosporium sancti-jacobi was added to the global IUCN Red List, where it is classified as endangered.
Cyphelium tigillare is a species of lignicolous (wood-dwelling) lichen in the family Caliciaceae, and the type species of the genus Cyphelium. Widespread in North America, it commonly grows on fenceposts.
Anema is a genus of lichen within the family Lichinaceae. The genus contains at least 13 species.
The Caliciaceae are a family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. Although the family has had its classification changed several times throughout its taxonomic history, the use of modern molecular phylogenetic methods have helped to establish its current placement in the order Caliciales. Caliciaceae contains 36 genera and about 600 species. The largest genus is Buellia, with around 300 species; there are more than a dozen genera that contain only a single species.
Maria Cengia Sambo was an Italian botanist, specializing in lichenology. Her work in the early twentieth century on the nature of the lichen symbiosis along with collection of many specimens and records of lichen distributions was particularly significant.
Calicium viride, commonly known as the green stubble lichen, is a species of pin lichen in the family Caliciaceae, and the type species of the genus Calicium. It is a common and widely distributed species in temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere and southern South America.
Ludwig Emanuel Schaerer was a Swiss pastor and lichenologist. Interested in natural history from a young age, Schaerer trained as a teacher and studied theology in Bern. During his career as a teacher, orphanage director, and pastor, he researched extensively and maintained correspondence with foreign botanists interested in cryptogams. Schaerer was best known for his multi-volume work Lichenum Helveticorum Spicilegium, published in 12 parts from 1823 to 1842. This series catalogued and described the lichens of Switzerland, particularly those in the Alps, where he often went on collecting excursions. In another series, he compiled and distributed dried herbarium specimens acquired from his collections. Several lichen taxa have been named in honour of Schaerer.
Calicium pinicola is a species of lignicolous (wood-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Caliciaceae. It is widely distributed in Europe, and also occurs in the United States.
