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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Jul 3

Some super lichens here in the Dolomites. A favourite of the trip so far is Bellemerea alpina, a species that's incredibly scarce in the Cairngorms but in the heart of its range here.

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Jun 29

En route to the First Symposium of Alpine Lichenology. Very excited for this! I'll be discussing work from our Scottish hills and looking forward to putting it in the context of mountain environments on a wider scale.

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · May 9

Nice.

Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · May 9

Ok, I can see some vasculars on the article picture.

Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · May 9

Perhaps a bit of lichen blindness here - the effect of birds on driving lichen communities is well recognised to the point that we have a name for them - ornithocoprophilous, or bird-poop-loving.

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · May 9

Interesting looking study on the effects of seabird droppings on plant communities. Not read properly yet, but a quick skim and lichens are only mentioned once, despite being the only 'plant' visible in the lead photo (yes I know they're not plants, but)

Functional Ecology @funecology.bsky.social · May 9

📰Published📰 How seabird droppings change Arctic plants🪹

buff.ly/jSUzzdn

🧪🌍

How seabird droppings change Arctic plants

Ruben E. Roos, Julia Kemppinen, Pekka Niittynen, Vigdis Vandvik, Inge Althuizen, Pernille Bronken Eidesen, Brian J. Enquist, Geir Wing Gabrielsen, Jonathan J. Henn, Ingibjörg S. Jónsdóttir, Kari Kl…

buff.ly

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · May 7

Female Belted Beauty moth. This is the Scottish subspecies, Lycia zonaria atlantica, found on machair grassland in the Hebrides (here on Mingulay)

A wingless female belted beauty moth, Lycia zonaria.

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Apr 2

Matt I hope we get to meet some time, I want to chat to you about music as much as I want to chat to you about lichens 😂

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Mar 28

In Birmingham for our workshop on lichen microbiomes thanks to the NERC Arctic Office. Here's @ingeborgklarenberg.bsky.social talking about her work on lichen associated communities in Antarctica

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Mar 13

Good to see the BBS has made it over here too

bbsbryology.bsky.social @bbsbryology.bsky.social · Mar 13

Some blue sky in this image of Wharfedale, Yorkshire, announces our move to this platform. The BBS will be having its annual Spring Field Meeting there, starting on Saturday, in this beautiful limestone countryside. It's been getting rather lonely on X/Twitter......

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Mar 3

I'm sure we could put a template together and make it available on the BLS website

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Mar 3

This is a great idea. Perhaps a 'frame' with a scale on would be a good way of standardising measurements? i.e. a square of paper with a 5x5cm window cut out with printed mm scale on one side that could be placed over the lichen so that images could be easily aligned.

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Mar 2

Excellent Peter! I've been meaning to try something like this out myself so good to see the extent of growth you've seen in that time frame. Cool to see it outcompeting that little Caloplaca thing too.

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Reposted by Nathan Chrismas

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · Feb 28

A map that centers on New Zealand, which I guess is reparation for all the maps that leave New Zealand off entirely.

It's a map that projects the globe of the Earth in a way that distorts the Americas and Eurasia, but accurately represents Australasia. It's got white whispy clouds, blue water, and green to sand-yellow color on the landmasses.

Stolen from a Reddit post on /MapPorn, posted by user 'molfarus' in 2022.

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Feb 27

Scorching! Hope your trip's going well too!

Reposted by Nathan Chrismas

Lennart Bach @bachlennart.bsky.social · Feb 19

Aquatic photosynthesis knowledge would be at a considerably lower level without John Raven. What a life and legacy! 🌊

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

John Raven, FRS, FRSE: a truly great innovator in plant physiology, photosynthesis and much more - Photosynthesis Research

This is a tribute to a truly inspirational plant biologist, Prof. John A. Raven, FRS, FRSE (25th June 1941– 23rd May 2024), who died at the age of 82. He was a leader in the field of evolution and phy...

link.springer.com

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Feb 27

Lots of this lovely Usnea ciliata to be found on the Grand Traverse of the Remarkables above Queenstown. A New Zealand endemic, one of its defining characteristics is the purple-black pigmentation at the ends of its branches

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Feb 27

And here's the full article www.cell.com/current-biol...

Complexity of the lichen symbiosis revealed by metagenome and transcriptome analysis of Xanthoria parietina

Lichens are symbiotic associations of fungi, algae, and bacteria that result in large, self-assembling organisms. Tagirdzhanova et al. use metagenomics to profile taxonomic diversity within the sunbur...

www.cell.com

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Feb 27

Want a quick overview before diving into @metalichen.bsky.social et al's new work on Xanthoria -omics in @currentbiology.bsky.social? Read our commentary here www.cell.com/current-biol...

Genomics: A window into the molecular mystery box of lichen symbiosis

How is a symbiosis built? Lichen metagenomic and metatranscriptomic surveys comparing growth stages, experimental treatments and environmental settings identify a catalogue of candidate genes — and mi...

www.cell.com

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Feb 20

Currently in New Zealand and blown away by the lichen assemblages here. Many familiar genera, but new species to me and boy are those macrolichens BIG.

Here are Sticta latifrons, Yarrumia colensoi, and Stereocaulon ramulosum from the Mt Aspiring national park.

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Feb 9

Please add @britishlichensociety.org.uk to the list - their recording and mapping scheme is excellent

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Reposted by Nathan Chrismas

Natalie Berry @natalie-berry.com · Feb 3

Some personal news: I was made redundant from UKClimbing as Editor-in-Chief after 10 years in the company. I'll continue my freelance journalism, but I'm also open to part/ full-time reporting/writing/editing opportunities and story tips. RTs/shares much appreciated. Thank you!
www.natalie-berry.com

Natalie Berry

www.natalie-berry.com

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Jan 27

Would love to see this in the wild some day - what a beauty

John Villella @jvillella.bsky.social · Jan 27

Umbilicaria phaea var. coccinea, a uniquely pigmented rock tripe seen here on basalt cliffs at Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area, Siskiyou County, California.

Bright red umbilicate lichen containing an anthraquinone pigment growing over basalt rock

Details of the concentric fissured apothecia

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Nathan Chrismas @thevagrantlichenologist.com · Jan 23

Hunting for frosty Cladonia in the Cairngorms this morning. Glad to get fieldwork out of the way before the impending cataclysm of Storm Eowyn

Just a dude in a yellow jacket kneeling down on an icy hill looking for lichen

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Reposted by Nathan Chrismas

The British Lichen Society @britishlichensociety.org.uk · Jan 17

If you're interested in finding out more about lichens, do look at the British Lichen Society's (BLS) events page for walks, talks and more across the country over the next few months
britishlichensociety.org.uk/the-society/...

The lichen Protoparmeliopsis muralis, a grey lichen with brown fruiting bodies or apothecia, surrounded by a yellow crustose lichen

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