I am forwarding this interesting reply to a question
posed about lichens and taxonomy on another group.
The original question was something like "to what
taxonomic group should lichens be assigned?" I
thought Fred's reply was excellent.
ross
>X-Received: MTU Resend v1.1 for bryonet-l
>Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 07:03:55 -0800 (PST)
>From: Fred Rhoades <fredr at henson.cc.wwu.edu>
>To: PROFDHW at aol.com>Cc: bryonet-l at mtu.edu>Subject: Re: Lichens anyone?
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Precedence: list
>Reply-To: bryonet-l at mtu.edu>>Prof. Williams,
>> Do check out the Web site Sherry Pittam suggests for lots of
>information on lichens. But to answer your specific question,
>> Lichens are one of a variety of "ways of life" that fungi have taken on
>with other organisms (another example of a way of life common to many
>fungi is mycorrhiza formation). Since lichens combine a fungus (which by
>international agreement is what gives the lichen its scientific name) with
>one or more photosynthetic partners it would be bad enough to try and
>classify them precisely in "a group". Again, by international agreement,
>each lichen is classified according to the characteristics of its fungal
>partner. Most lichen fungi are Ascomycetes (there are a few
>Basidiomycete lichens) and as many as 18 independent orders of fungi have
>"lichenized" members. The algal and bluegreen bacterial partners of
>lichens are classified among their own relations in those groups. By the
>way, you may find in older (and less authoritative current texts) that
>lichens are classified in a single group (the Mycophycophyta or some
>such): this is a classification of convenience and to provide a more
>simply understandable view for first introducing students to these
>facinating "organisms".
>>Fred Rhoades, Research Associate
>Biology Department, WWU
>Bellingham, WA 98225
>USA
>FAX: (360) 650-3148
>Voice: (360) 733-9149
>>email: fredr at henson.cc.wwu.edu>>>
