An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Bayreuth, the University of Hohenheim, and the Bavarian State Natural Science Collections has discovered how different climatic conditions ...

A new study reveals that the evolution of sunscreen pigments in lichen-forming fungi has been governed by the reshuffling of existing enzyme genes and novel accessory genes into new gene clusters.

Blacksburg, Va., May 12, 2005 – Researchers from China and the United States have found evidence of lichen-like symbiosis in 600-million-year-old fossils from South China. The previous earliest ...

The planet may be warming too quickly for tiny organisms called lichens to adapt, according to new research. Lichens are widespread plant-like organisms often seen growing on rocks, trees, and ...

Mutualistic symbioses have contributed to major transitions in the evolution of life. Here, we investigate the evolutionary history and the molecular innovations at the origin of lichens, which are a ...

To learn how lichens might be able to adapt to climate change, researchers examined the evolutionary history of the algae that's a part of 7,000 kinds of lichens. By studying genetic relationships ...

One of life’s most important symbiotic partnerships may be threatened by a warming climate. Lichens — a composite organism made from cyanobacteria or algae entangled within the body of a fungus — may ...

Scientists thought that reindeer lichens (moss-looking organisms that form a major part of reindeer diets) reproduced mainly asexually by cloning themselves. But it turns out, reindeer lichens are ...

Lichens that help hold together soil crusts in arid lands around the world are dying off as the climate warms, new research shows. That would lead deserts to expand and also would affect areas far ...