#rhizoplaca

Lab work, field work, data analysis, writing, teaching, lichen identification, curating collections, bothering my coworkers. Since I am a PhD student, my day-to-day is all over the place. Currently I am preparing for a big lichen conference in Trieste, so I am spending all day perfecting my presentation and making sure all of my data is presented clearly and correctly.

Favorite lichen is tough. I have so many! But it'd probably have to be Rhizoplaca idahoensis, aka Idaho grouse pellet lichen:

oh hey it’s me, ya boi, gainfully unemployed, thriving, and ready to share my endless photos of excellent saxicolous lichens with *you*

Collection of lichens on a rock, featuring most prominently a rock posy lichen (Rhizoplaca sp.) - 7/18 on Keweenaw Peninsula, MI

Rhizoplaca ouimetensis

Ouimet Canyon lichen

One of my favorite things about lichenology is how many things there still are left to be discovered about it--including the regular description of new species, even in places you would have thought we knew everything about already. R. ouimetensis was described in 2022, after being found growing on steep cliffs in boreal forests near Thunder Bay, Ontario. Right under our noses, folks. It has a thick, yellow-green, crustose thallus forming lumpy, glossy cushions. It is the only member of the genus (thus far) which produces soredia, which are pale to bright yellow, and produced from convex soralia. R. ouimetensis seems pretty restricted in its range surrounding Lake Superior, and has pretty specific habitat needs of cool, humid air and north-facing talus cliffs, and has therefore been classified by Nature Serve as "Critically Imperiled."

images: source

Check it out! Rhizoplaca polymorpha