The Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) has been conducting hydrogeological and biological surveys of Museum of Nature properties since 1995. The program is the means of the museum being a good steward of its lands following the construction of the Natural Heritage Campus (NHC) building in 1998. 

Two people wearing bug jackets walking through thick bush.
EMP students Katherine Peel (left) and Duncan Horan-Lunney (right) trekking through the marsh at the museum’s smaller, 12-hectare property in Osgoode, Ontario. Image: Noel Alfonso © Canadian Museum of Nature 

In the summer of 2022, we were the lucky two students that got to conduct environmental research on the museum’s 76-hectare property in Gatineau, Quebec, under the supervision of museum ichthyologist Noel Alfonso. We monitored many aspects of the property through a series of projects, including the annual EMP beetle and vascular plant surveys. However, we were thrilled when Noel broke the news that our taxon of interest this year was that of the fascinating lichens.  

A tree trunk covered in different kinds of lichen.
Like a pot of gold! We were so excited to spot this tree trunk in the forest at the NHC covered with so many distinct species of crustose lichen. Image: Duncan Horan-Lunney, © Canadian Museum of Nature 

Lichens are exceptionally unique and bizarre. Each species is a combination of two (or more) completely distinct species that behave as a single organism. They are made up of a layer of cyanobacteria or algae sandwiched between two layers of fungi. The inner algal layer is responsible for photosynthesis and gives the lichen their characteristic colours, while the fungi give them their fruiting body and shape. 

A flat, grey scalloped growth on a tree.
One of the first lichens we recognized, on a tree branch in the forest of NHC property. If you look closely, you can see the ridged, mottled surface of the grey lobes, giving it its name: hammered shield lichen (Parmelia sulcata). Image: Duncan Horan-Lunney, © Canadian Museum of Nature 

Check out this blog to learn more about lichen and how to distinguish it from moss.

Historically, the EMP has not done extensive lichen surveys. Therefore, we were super excited to get started on our own lichen collections this summer and create an updated list of species present on the NHC property. 

A gray-green growth on a tree.
A light green cup lichen on a dead tree branch at the Osgoode, Ontario property. Lichens are often found on dead or dying trees, giving the impression that they are harmful to the substrate that they grow on. Luckily, this is false! They cause no harm to the trees where they grow.  Image: Katherine Peel, © Canadian Museum of Nature 

So, where did we begin? In short, we just started looking. And kept looking and looking and looking. Lichen can be found on trees, rocks and even on the ground. They can be showy, like the star-tipped reindeer lichen (which won the Canadian National Lichen Vote!) or, more often, very discrete, blending into its surroundings. The longer you look, the more you will find! 

A mass of puffy, light-coloured semi-spheres.
Canada’s national lichen, the star-tipped reindeer lichen (Cladonia stellaris), as voted by 18,075 Canadians in an online contest in February 2020. Image: © Canadian Museum of Nature 

Almost every day, we headed out into the ‘backyard’ of the NHC and surveyed the environment. Once we spotted a lichen that we wanted to collect, we got our equipment ready. Collection methods vary depending on the substrate, abundance and type of lichen.  

Most of the lichens we have collected so far have been found on tree trunks. To collect these, we carefully scraped a very thin layer of bark containing the lichen and stored it in a paper bag. When we returned to the museum, we dried the lichen to preserve it, and then left it in a freezer for a week to kill any pests that may have still been present. After, the lichens were ready to be identified and added to the museum collections.  

A fascinating video zooming into the apothecium (spore-bearing cup) of a lichen species present on a serviceberry tree (Amelanchier sp.) in front of the NHC building. Both the iPhone camera zoom and a hand lens are used to view the intricate details of the lichen. 
A man crouching down and scraping at a tree.
EMP student Duncan Horan-Lunney collecting lichen from the bark on the base of a dead cedar tree. Image: Katherine Peel, © Canadian Museum of Nature 

This year, we had the opportunity to collect lichens that usually would have required specialized techniques to access. Recent wind storms in the Ottawa-Gatineau area have felled many trees in the NHC forest, including a pair of white pine trees whose top branches were more than twenty-eight metres off the ground! These fallen trees provided easy access to branches that have arboreal lichen species which we otherwise would not have had the opportunity to collect. 

Masses of flat orange, green and white growths on a tree trunk.
Multiple lichen species found at the top of a 28 metre pine tree that was knocked down during the strong derecho storm in May 2022. Before exploring the top of these branches, we had not found such diverse colouration in the lichens we surveyed.  Image: Duncan Horan-Lunney, © Canadian Museum of Nature 

Lichen identification can be extraordinarily complex. It often requires specialized techniques, chemicals and colour reaction tests to determine unique compounds in the structure. Our lichen collections will be identified by experts and added to the National Herbarium of Canada. 

A man and a woman both wearing bug jackets standing next to a tree covered in lichen growths giving the “thumbs up” sign.
Another great find! Here we are next to a tree covered in crustose lichen in the NHC forest. Image: Noel Alfonso, © Canadian Museum of Nature