“Lichen are Fungi that took up farming with Algae.”

Dr Frank Bungartz, ASU

I took a class about Lichen put on by Olli at ASU  at the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve.

I learned a lot of additional factoids about Lichen which I won’t bore you with. But the main things I learned were humbling. First this tiny subject is so complex that a person can study it there entire lives and not understand everything that is known. And second, what we know about lichen is fragmentary, massively incomplete and often disputed.

For a young person who loves science Lichen could be an interesting life’s work. It reminded me of E. O. Wilson and his studies of ants.

I took the first photo using the magnifier app on my iPhone 11pro. The second photo was taken years ago with my iPhone 7.