Lots of Learning About Little Lichens

The Humboldt Field Research Institute, at Eagle Hill in Steuben, has a long history of studying lichens (organisms that consist of a symbiotic association of a fungus and alga). They grow in some of the most extreme environments, from arctic tundra to hot deserts, and even on the rocky coast of Maine. Some grow on trees, while others thrive on bare rock. Lichens have been used to make dyes, perfumes, and are even found in “Toms of Maine” underarm deodorant! They can also act as bio indicators in assessing the effects of air pollution and global warming.
These fascinating organisms were the focus of four different seminars this summer at Eagle Hill. Participants found themselves traveling to nearby parks and refuges, and hiking the paths at Eagle Hill in search for lichens. They chipped crustos lichens from rocks, plucked the delicate foliose and fruiticose lichens from branches, and gathered squamulose from the forest floor. In the lab they peered through microscopes and dissected their collections to identify the different species.
These seminars were lead by very knowledgeable instructors from the UK, Canada, and the US.
The seminar, Introduction to Lichens, was instructed by Fred Olday who has taught at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.
David Richardson, Professor and Dean Emeritus at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who is a specialist in the effects of air pollution on lichens, led the Lichens and Lichen Ecology seminar with Mark Seaward, professor Emeritus of Environmental Biology at Bradford University, England, and is also a lichen ecologist.
The seminar, Lecideoid Lichens: Identification and Systematics was taught by Alan Fryday, curator of the cryptogamic collection at the Michigan State University herbarium (MSC).
Irwin M. Brodo has written an encyclopedic reference book entitled “Lichens of North America” illustrated with over 920 color photographs. His seminar was Crustose Lichens of Coastal Maine.