Lichen  (Lobaria sachalinensis)

Classified as Data Deficient (DD) (2).

This lichen has a lobed, leafy appearance; it is a dark greenish colour and may produce reddish fruiting bodies when fertile (3).

Found on Sakhalin Island, in the Russian Far East, and on the island of Hokkaido, Japan (2).

The major habitat is broad-leaved forests such as Juglans ailantifolia forest, found in the southwest of Sakhalin Island (2).

Lichens consist of two different organisms, a 'mycobiont' (a fungus) and a 'phycobiont' (either an alga, which is a simple plant, or a cyanobacterium, a bacteria that can photosynthesise), which live together in a symbiotic association(4). Little is known about this Russian lichen.

Information currently unavailable.

Information currently unavailable.

• Alga: a collection of taxonomically unrelated groups that share some common features but are grouped together for historical reasons and for convenience. They are of simple construction, and are mainly photoautotrophic, obtaining all their energy from light and carbon dioxide, and possess the photosynthetic pigment, chlorophyll A. They range in complexity from microscopic single cells to very complex plant-like forms, such as kelps. Algal groups include blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), red algae (rhodophyta), green algae (chlorophyta), brown algae and diatoms (chromista) as well as euglenophyta.
• Cyanobacteria: a group of bacteria that are able to photosynthesise and contain the pigment chlorophyll. They used to be known as 'blue-green algae'. They are thought to have been the first organisms to produce oxygen; fossil cyanobacteria have been found in 3000 million year old rocks. As they are responsible for the oxygen in the atmosphere they have played an essential role in influencing the course of evolution on this planet.
• Fruiting bodies: in fungi, the fruit body is the visible part of the fungus which bears spores (microscopic particles involved in both dispersal and reproduction).
• Fungus: fungi are one of the taxonomic kingdoms, separate from plants and animals. They obtain nutrients by absorbing organic compounds from the surrounding environment.
• Photosynthesis: metabolic process characteristic of plants in which carbon dioxide is broken down, using energy from sunlight absorbed by the green pigment chlorophyll. Organic compounds are made and oxygen is given off as a by-product.
• Symbiotic association: relationship in which two organisms form a close association, the term is now usually used only for associations that benefit both organisms (a mutualism).

1. National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary (May 2003) http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nbn/
2. Scheidegger, C. (Jan, 2003) Pers. comm.
3. Pers. obs. (May, 2003) from images.
4. Allaby, M. (1998) Oxford Dictionary of Plant Sciences. Oxford University Press, Oxford