2017 Lichen BioBlitz

This article was originally published in The Midden – Great Basin National Park: Vol. 17, No. 1, Summer 2017.

Xanthoria elegans, one of the most common and easiest identified lichens in the park due to its bright orange color.

Photo by Brad Kropp

This year, Great Basin National Park will hold its ninth BioBlitz. Each year, the park focuses on a different topic, from beetles to birds and now to lichens. Results help the park learn more about what lives in the park and where it is found.

What are lichens? They are an organism made up of fungi, algae, and sometimes bacteria. Lichens can grow on soil, trees, rocks, and more. They can live thousands of years. Some are very particular about air quality, and so only grow in the cleanest air. Disappearence of those species indicates problems not only for the lichens.

You’re invited to participate in the 2017 Lichen BioBlitz! Guided hikes to various locations in the park with lichen experts will be offered, as well as talks about lichen natural history, an art workshop, and more. To sign up, email [e-mail]

Photo by John Dickson

In 2014 Natassja Noell and Jason Hollinger studied the lichens on Wheeler Peak to repeat a lichen study done in the 1950s. They found about 50 species of lichens just at the top of the peak.

In 2015, the park funded a small base-line lichen survey by Dr. Brad Kropp from Utah State University. He set up 14 plots and spent a couple hours at each one. He found 123 lichen species in these plots. In addition, there are 37 lichen species from the Wheeler Peak list weren’t in those plots. That means that there are now 160 known lichen species in the park, and probably many more!

NPSpecies, the database that records what lives in each park, shows zero non-vascular plants in the park. Now we’re up to 160 species in just a few years. With this summer’s Bioblitz focusing on lichens, we’re expecting the list to grow even more.