Lichen

[watervole]

I've a friend who is studying an environmental science course with the Open University and I occasionally drop round for a chat.

Today, he revealed that he has to do a survey on the effects of pollution on lichens. He's not exactly looking forward to it...

So, we got chatting. I at least have the advantage of having some interest in lichens. I don't know much about them, but you don't need much of a head start to be ahead of zero (which, let's face it, are where most people are when it comes to lichens)

I told him to do his survey in churchyards. Many classic lichen surveys have been done in such places. They have nice flat stone surfaces, and, perfect for the purpose of surveys, all those nice flat stone surfaces even have dates on them.

Most people don't 'see' lichens. Next time you walk down a road, look at the surfaces of pavements, curb stones and walls. The odds are high that you'll see at least three species of lichen in just a couple of minutes.

Comments

[lexin.livejournal.com]

Depending where he is, another good place for lichens is roofs. My home village has lichens on all the roofs over three years old.

[julesjones]

Ah yes. I am now remembering a certain walk through Ipswich with predatrix, and the impromptu nature lesson. :-)

[sugoll.livejournal.com]

> all those nice flat stone surfaces even have dates on them.

I have to say: this is inspired. :-)

[temeres.livejournal.com]

Graveyards are useful for measuring the rate of lichen growth, since you can measure the diameter of the lichen (the round ones, anyway) and plot it against the age of the stone. Fun if you're into scatter diagrams. When I was a lab tech the A Level biology set did a practical exercise of that sort in the local cemetery. Can't remember what results they got, though.

[kerravonsen]

There is a lovely lot of lichen growing on a disused basketball court in our local sportsground; there's two basketball courts next to each other, but the disused one doesn't actually have any hoops, just a railing around it, and as I said, some nice lichen, mostly in one corner.

Artic Lichen

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

apparantly there's a new "whitening" toothpaste that uses Artic Lichen as its USP. According to the TV ad last night it's called BlanX.

BlanX Sensitive Whitening Toothpaste is sensitive whitening toothpaste for sensitive teeth and contains four active ingredients to reinforce the enamel of sensitive teeth:
Hydroxyapatite
Potassium chloride
Sodium flouride
Arctic lichen
The Sensitive Whitening toothpaste is non abrasive and based on Arctic lichen that is ideal for daily use.

The lichen, which grows naturally in the Arctic, contains active natural ingredients which attacks harmful bacteria involved in the formulation of plaque and tooth decay, and not the beneficial bacteria found naturally in the mouth.

Used daily, Blanx Sensitive toothpaste effectively cleans and protects the teeth and restores them to their original whiteness without damaging the tooth enamel.
http://www.boots.com/shop/product_details.jsp?productid=1060860&classificationid=1035719&slmRefer=000

Re: Artic Lichen

[watervole.livejournal.com]

It's not uncommon for lichen to have anti-biotic properties. Though I'm not sure about how selective they are.