Distinctly Montana Magazine

59 w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m LICHEN: T HERE'S SOMETHING ROMANTIC ABOUT LICHEN. With respect to the birds and the bees, it may be that this mysterious, ancient not-quite plant might serve as a better metaphor for mysteries of human love. As you may or may not recall from high school, lichen are not one kind of life at all, but two, en- gaged in a relationship which nourishes them both. One is a fungus and the other is an alga or a cyanobacterium. As in any good partnership, they work together. The fungus provides a structure and protects the alga while, nestled safely inside, the alga photosynthesizes and produces carbohy- drates. The fungus feeds the alga via mineral ab- sorption from rock. Its partner offers up as much as 90% of the carbohydrates it produces. Separate, they are weak. The fungus, called a my- cobiont, cannot survive on its own in the "wild," as it were. They have become what is called "obligate symbiotes," meaning that, unlike most fungus, which can generate nutrients from decomposing bodies or by living on the roots of plants, the fun- gus in lichen are literally unable to live without their counterpart. The alga, in turn, can live alone and sometimes do. But by virtue of their dance with the fungus, they are able to colonize areas they could never reach alone: on exposed rock, in the desert, or in the Arctic. Plus, the alga or cyanobacteria might be able to survive in mud, or on a tree branch, but it wouldn't be long before a wind or a rain or something else comes and dislodges it. To live life alone is to be more exposed to at least some of the caprices of fate. Their joyful collaboration protects against them. Together, they are capable of creating new chemical compounds together that neither could accomplish alone, such as vulpinic acid, which renders the lichen toxic to carnivores as well as protecting against UV rays, and rhizocarpic acid, text by JOSEPH SHELTON photos by TIM WHEELER A love Sty

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