I was on a hike recently and remembered my childhood fascination with the small orange and green lichen that grows on the surface of rocks. I was under the impression it was a type of fungi, but brief research said it was a plant. More research says yes but actually no, it’s a plant AND a fungus. Even more said it’s a plant, fungus, and bacteria. I’m thoroughly confused by this and there’s just too much information and I’m having trouble sifting though it.
I greatly appreciate the information, thanks in advance!
In: Biology
Lichens are two organisms living together in a fairly harmonious relationship, the green (or greenish part) is the plant which is an algae or cyanobacteria which produces energy from sunlight these are one of the earliest forms of life on our planet. – https://youtu.be/ile60Q3zsMU
They work alongside a fungi which protects the plant and also gathers water from the surrounding area since the plant doesn’t have roots and instead uses the filaments of the fungi for the purpose.
They generally have a relatively slow rate of growth but can adapt to almost any surface so long as there is some available light.
Firstly, its neat! Its effectively fungus that learned to farm.
Secondly it is both a fungus and an algae or bacteria that have a symbiotic relationship
The fungus does the heavy lifting of gripping onto trees and rocks, providing shelter for its little food source, and collecting moisture/nutrients from the environment.
The algae or cyanobacteria takes the water and nutrients and uses them in photosynthesis to make sugar that it and the fungus consume for energy.
The fungus cannot live on its own, it needs the food that the algae/bacteria provides so they’ve formed a symbiotic relationship with the algae/bacteria.
In a similar vein, coral are tiny animals that have collected even tinier plants to perform photosynthesis for them
Lichen has been described as “Lichens are fungi that have discovered agriculture”.
So it is a fungus that lives in a symbiotic relationship with algae or cyanobacteria.
The algae or cyanobacteria can photosynthesis ie use light to convert water and carbon dioxide to sugar and oxygen just like pants do.
Fungi can’t photosynthesis and are biologically closer to animals them plants. So they can provide nutrients from the ground and give the algae or cyanobacteria a structure to live in.
So it is two types of life that both need each other to survive.
In a way, humans and the bacteria in our guts are similar because we use them to break down the food. We have a huge problem surviving without the gut bacteria.Cows and other animals that eat grass uses bacteria in this stomach to break down the cellulose. They would not be able to survive at least not on the normal diet without the bacteria.
So in a way animals are not that different because we too used another living thing inside us to survive. You could describe a cow as an animal, bacteria symbiosis.
Even scientists that study them have difficulty classifying them clearly. Are they a plant? Are they a fungus? “A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship. Lichens have different properties from those of its component organisms. ” So yeah, they basically cannot give a solid answer, as they seem to be one or another, and yet don’t have the same properties as the ones they seem to be.
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