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Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defining feature of this fungal group is the "ascus", a microscopic sexual structure in which nonmotile spores, called ascospores, are formed. However, some species of Ascomycota are asexual and thus do not form asci or ascospores. Familiar examples of sac fungi include morels, truffles, brewers' and bakers' yeast, dead man's fingers, and cup fungi. The fungal symbionts in the majority of lichens such as Cladonia belong to the Ascomycota.
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.
Fungi diverged from other life around 1.5 billion years ago, with the glomaleans branching from the "higher fungi" (dikaryans) at ~570 million years ago, according to DNA analysis. Fungi probably colonized the land during the Cambrian, over 500 million years ago,, and possibly 635 million years ago during the Ediacaran, but terrestrial fossils only become uncontroversial and common during the Devonian, 400 million years ago.
A fungus is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one of the traditional eukaryotic kingdoms, along with Animalia, Plantae and either Protista or Protozoa and Chromista.
Homothallic refers to the possession, within a single organism, of the resources to reproduce sexually; i.e., having male and female reproductive structures on the same thallus. The opposite sexual functions are performed by different cells of a single mycelium.
Vulpinic acid is a natural product first found in and important in the symbiosis underlying the biology of lichens. It is a simple methyl ester derivative of its parent compound, pulvinic acid, and a close relative of pulvinone, both of which derive from aromatic amino acids such as phenylalanine via secondary metabolism. The roles of vulpinic acid are not fully established, but may include properties that make it an antifeedant for herbivores. The compound is relatively toxic to mammals.
The Pannariaceae are a family of lichens in the order Peltigerales. Species from this family have a widespread distribution, but are especially prevalent in southern temperate regions.
Lichinales is the sole order of ascomycete fungi in the class Lichinomycetes. It contains three families: Gloeoheppiaceae, Lichinaceae, and Peltulaceae. Most species are lichenized. Lichinales was proposed in 1986 by German lichenologists Aino Henssen and Burkhard Büdel. The class Lichinomycetes was created by Valérie Reeb, François Lutzoni and Claude Roux in 2004.
The Lichinaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi. Most species are lichenized with cyanobacteria, and have a distribution largely in temperate regions.
Marine fungi are species of fungi that live in marine or estuarine environments. They are not a taxonomic group, but share a common habitat. Obligate marine fungi grow exclusively in the marine habitat while wholly or sporadically submerged in sea water. Facultative marine fungi normally occupy terrestrial or freshwater habitats, but are capable of living or even sporulating in a marine habitat. About 444 species of marine fungi have been described, including seven genera and ten species of basidiomycetes, and 177 genera and 360 species of ascomycetes. The remainder of the marine fungi are chytrids and mitosporic or asexual fungi. Many species of marine fungi are known only from spores and it is likely a large number of species have yet to be discovered. In fact, it is thought that less than 1% of all marine fungal species have been described, due to difficulty in targeting marine fungal DNA and difficulties that arise in attempting to grow cultures of marine fungi. It is impracticable to culture many of these fungi, but their nature can be investigated by examining seawater samples and undertaking rDNA analysis of the fungal material found.
Biatora epirotica is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen in the family Ramalinaceae. Found in specific regions of the Balkans and Turkey, it was described as new to science in 2011 by lichenologists Christian Printzen and Toby Spribille.
A fruticose lichen is a form of lichen fungi that is characterized by a coral-like shrubby or bushy growth structure. It is formed from a symbiotic relationship of a photobiont such as green algae or less commonly cyanobacteria and one, two or more mycobionts. Fruticose lichens are not a monophyletic and holophyletic lineage, but is a form encountered in many classes. Fruticose lichens have a complex vegetation structure, and are characterized by an ascending, bushy or pendulous appearance. As with other lichens, many fruticose lichens can endure high degrees of desiccation. They grow slowly and often occur in habitats such as on tree barks, on rock surfaces and on soils in the Arctic and mountain regions.
Lichens are symbiotic organisms made up of multiple species: a fungus, one or more photobionts and sometimes a yeast. They are regularly grouped by their external appearance – a characteristic known as their growth form. This form, which is based on the appearance of vegetative part of the lichen, varies depending on the species and the environmental conditions it faces. Those who study lichens (lichenologists) have described a dozen of these forms: areolate, byssoid, calicioid, cladoniform, crustose, filamentous, foliose, fruticose, gelatinous, leprose, placoidioid and squamulose. Traditionally, crustose (flat), foliose (leafy) and fruticose (shrubby) are considered to be the three main forms. In addition to these more formalised, traditional growth types, there are a handful of informal types named for their resemblance to the lichens of specific genera. These include alectorioid, catapyrenioid, cetrarioid, hypogymnioid, parmelioid and usneoid.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fungi and mycology:
Josef Hafellner is an Austrian mycologist and lichenologist. He was awarded the Acharius Medal in 2016 for his lifetime contributions to lichenology. Before his retirement, he was a professor at the Karl-Franzens-Universität in Graz. Hafellner started developing an interest in lichens while he was a student at this institution, studying under Josef Poelt. He earned a master's degree in 1975 and a PhD in 1978, defending a doctoral thesis about the genus Karschia. In 2003, Hafellner received his habilitation. By this time, he had studied with French lichenologist André Bellemère (1927–2014) at Saint-Cloud, where he learned techniques of transmission electron microscopy and how their application in studying asci could be used in lichen systematics. His 1984 work Studien in Richtung einer natürlicheren Gliederung der Sammelfamilien Lecanoraceae und Lecideaceae has been described as "probably the single most influential publication in lichen systematics in the latter half of the 20th century".
Emmanuël Sérusiaux is a Belgian lichenologist. His career, spanning more than four decades, has combined both lichenology research and political aspects of nature conservation. He spent several periods working as a researcher at the National Fund for Scientific Research and the University of Liège, the latter in which he accepted a faculty position as professor and head of the Plant Taxonomy and Conservation Biology unit. Sérusiaux also served for three non-consecutive appointments as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Government of Wallonia. He retired from both his academic and political positions in 2019.
Steineropsis is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Pannariaceae. It has two species. The genus was circumscribed by Toby Spribille and Lucia Muggia in 2010, with Steineropsis alaskana assigned as the type species. The type specimen of this lichen was found in Skagway, Alaska, where it was growing on a rock in a snowbed at an altitude of 1,051 m (3,448 ft). The generic name alludes to a resemblance to the genus Steinera. A second species, Steineropsis laceratula, also found in Alaska, was added to the genus in 2020. Molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that Steineropsis has a sister taxon relationship to genus Protopannaria.
Letharia columbiana is a common lichen in subalpine forests, particularly in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and parts of Canada. It is in the family Parmeliaceae, and the genus Letharia. Its characteristics include a bright citron color, “brown-eyes”, and rounded, irregular branches. Though previously believed to lump together several lineages such as Letharia gracilis and others, there now exists more specific characteristics to identify the species. This lichen grows on the bark of conifers a couple inches tall. L. Columbiana’s cousin, Letharia vulpina (common name wolf lichen), has similar geographical distribution and morphological features, with the major difference being the “brown-eyes” of L. columbiana.
Watsoniomyces is a single-species fungal genus in the family Lichinaceae. It contains the saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose lichen Watsoniomyces obsoletus.
Rebecca Yahr is an American lichenologist who works at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in Scotland. She was President of the British Lichen Society from 2019 until 2022.
References
- 1 2 3 Yong, Ed (21 July 2016). "How a Guy From a Montana Trailer Park Overturned 150 Years of Biology". The Atlantic. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
- 1 2 "Toby Spribille Associate Professor, Faculty of Science - Biological Sciences". University of Alberta. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
- ↑ Spiribille, Toby; Tuovinen, Veera; other co-authors, and 13 (2016). "Basidiomycete yeasts in the cortex of ascomycete macrolichens". Science. 353 (6298): 488–492. Bibcode:2016Sci...353..488S. doi:10.1126/science.aaf8287. PMC 5793994 . PMID 27445309.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ Intagliata, Christopher. "For Lichens, 3's Not a Crowd". Scientific American. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ↑ Brown, Michael. "Discovery offers new clues to lichens' evolutionary advantage". University of Alberta. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ↑ Tønsberg, Tor; Goward, Trevor (2016). "Cliostomum spribillei (Ramalinaceae, lichenized Ascomycetes), a new species from western North America". North American Fungi. 11 (5): 1–7. doi:10.2509/naf2016.011.005 (inactive 31 January 2024).
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link) - ↑ International Plant Names Index. T.Sprib.
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