Lichens are a very old success story: fossils of dorsiventrally organised cyanobacterial and green algal lichens with internal stratification were found in Early Devonian (approx. 418 Ma old) sandstones from the Welsh borderland, with even their microbiome being preserved: bacterial films on the surface of the cortex, and filaments of endolichenic actinobacteria and fungi in the thalline interior. From the early 1970s onwards three powerful tools became available for studying lichen biology and the functioning of lichen symbiosis: electron microscopy (conventional and cryotechniques), genomics and information technology. The fine structure of asci, ascospore formation and release, of conidiogenesis and of the diverse types of mycobiont-photobiont interactions, the routes of solute translocation between the symbionts and the fate of cells under extreme drought stress could be explored. Phylogenies of myco- and photobiont taxa and of sequences of mating type or of hydrophobin genes of lichen-forming fungi, the latter playing a crucial role in the functioning of lichen symbiosis, could be analysed and compared with non-lichenized taxa. Today many colleagues focus on the microbiome of lichen thalli, the ever present bacterial epibionts and actinobacterial and fungal endobionts and speculate about their potential roles in the symbiosis. A model system for resynthesizing all stages of lichen thallus formation and for studying the impact of representatives of the microbiome under controlled in vitro conditions is still missing, a challenge for experimental lichenologists!
10.00 Annual General Meeting
13-14.00 Lunch
Virtual lounge open with facilities for smaller groups to go into break-out rooms
14.00 Introduction: Becky Yahr, President of the Society
14.10 Research talks
16.30 Humanities talks
17.10 Award Ceremony and Close
12.30 - 16.30 Virtual Field Meeting
Organisers: Pat Wolseley and April Windle
Part 1. Special Lichen Habitats in the British Isles
Comprising six short presentations from lichenologists working in these habitats.
12.30 Introduction
12.45 Presentations
Atlantic Hazelwoods (TBC)
Metalliferous Sites - Janet Simkin
Churchyards - David Hill
13.45 - 14.30 Lunch
Virtual lounge open with facilities for smaller groups to go into break-out rooms
Streams and Rivers - Holger Thüs
Pasture Woodlands and Parklands - Dave Lamacraft
Montane and Snowbeds - Alan Fryday
Part 2. Discussion Panel
15.30 Lichens in the Anthropocene
Peter Crittenden, Chris Ellis, Neil Sanderson, and Ray Woods discuss lichens in a rapidly changing environment.
What changes have we seen, can we expect to see and how can we mitigate these?
16.30 End Meeting
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