Peter Braubach

Bronze plaque saying "A Letter to the Future. Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it. August 2019. 415ppm CO2"

TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".

Pebble embedded in moss with yellow, orange and grey apothecia of different lichens.

Microlichens on pebbles can also be spectacular! #lichen

Green pixie cups - podetia of a Cladonia sp. lichen, some with brown apothecia, some branching.

Bizarre shapes of Cladonia lichen podetia from the gravel pit I visited yesterday.

"Pixie cup" podetium of cladonia lichen next to a pebble. The pebble shows a green dusting next to the cup.

Cladonia #lichen and other microlichens on a pebble. I think this illustrates the dispersal via soredia perfectly.

Cladonia lichen with short sorediate cups.

Cladonia humilis (I think) #lichen from my short excursion today.

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Closeup shot of lichens, mosses and low vegetation.

Peltigera (didactyla) and one I don't know, Cladonia subulata (I think) from my trip today.

I thought of C. rangiformis for all of the reasons you mentioned and discarded the thought and now I don't know why (and feel stupid).

Got to revisit the thought again. Thank you!

Me (man with glasses beard and grey jacket and bonnet) lying between dry vegetation and moss. I am looking at the camera and holding a handlens in my right hand.

Tufts of cladonia lichen between rocks and dry vegetation.

Ruderal site of an old gravel pit in yellow winter afternoon light.

I got time in an old gravel pit. Usually I don't do selfies - otoh I didn't want to collect more cladonia #lichen samples, yet here I am.

This one is driving me mad. I just can’t work out what it is! Negative spot tests. Warham St Mary church.

I just realize that there is a pycnidium to the left in the 2nd image. Haven't seen this at the time of doing the microscopy...

Thank you! I will have a look and try.

My initial thought was Vezdaea - but I realized pretty fast that I was not lucky with the combinations of features I could observe.

Toby suggested Bacidina a couple of minutes ago, I still have to try this one out.

IKI on ascus squish. Red reaction (initally light blue on the low concentrated front)

Thank you George!

IKI stains whole asci hemiamyloid (red). I have no better pictures. Found this one just before I wanted to go to bed and did not complete all studies.

Green algea, without gelatineous capsule, enveloped in hyphae

LGBI3 () mentiones Cryptodiscus gloeocapsa as possible confusion species. In my sample the photobiont does not match (green algea without gelatinous capsule) 3/2.

Decaying moss covered in black and green stuff. Apothecia are tiny white dots in the centre.

Section of plant material and apothecium in water

Margin and hymenium of the apothecium

Spores (in water)

Measurements fit more to A. pauxilla, the ecology more to A. annexa which has larger ap. and spores of similar length and shape but twice the width (2,5-3,5 µm).

I would kindly ask you for comments. Correct genus? Any ideas on the species? 2/2

Tiny white apothecia with white disk and slightly raised margin on a strand of decaying moss.

I found these #lichen apothecia on decaying moss and plant fibres in an old quarry. White, ~200 µm in dia. With proper margin. Hemiamyloid. Spores needle like, 30 x 1,5-1,8 µm with multiple septa (4-6 cells? Hard to tell!).

When keying out I arrive at Absconditella sp. 1/2

Cladonia lichen on sandy soil with squamules sprouting initial podetia.

Detail of smaller sprouts, dichotomous branching and with brown tips.

I have a strange Cladonia #lichen - small squamules sprouting dichotomous branching podetia. Lots of C. furcata (I think) around this.

Could this be initial C. furcata sprouting from primary squamules? (ch: P-, K+ yellow, C-, UV-).

I would appreciate any input on these.

Those look really neat and the compression and support might just be what I need. Thank you!

I had one of these in big, used for shipping a computer board.

Macro photo of cladonia lichen and moss.

Cladonia sp. #lichen podetium in mossy ground. While p.i.t.a. to identify they are amongst the most photogenic lichens.

Cladonia podetium on mm grid paper.

Cladonia lichen fragment in my hand. Partially red from P spot test.

Cladonia somethingsomething chlorophaea agg. #lichen, I think. P+ red, K n-ve to pale yellow. Small stout podetia, corticate at base and granular at the top.

I have not fully switched my brain to Cladonia so comments and criticism is (as always) welcome!

Ground with some Cladonia lichens

Two kinds of shrubby Cladonia #lichen - one greener and more compact the other longer with a lighter green grey tone. Both with split podetia, P+ brick red, K- and some squamules. With both I key to C. furcata. Different types? Features match for both.

Thank you. The more I get into the small terricolous lichens I face new challenges, from taxonomic/ID problems to just plain practical considerations. Thank you both for giving advice!

Thank you Anthony!
Maybe you have some advice how to bring them home intact. My current line of thought is in petri dishes supported by something lint-free

Post your favourite Lord of the Rings characters, wrong answers only.

Thank you!

This is the model railroad scenery building technique 🫣🤩

And of course any other person with ideas or experience!

Detail of a star shaped branched tip of a Cladonia lichen.

Foreshadowing projects for the next days. I will have to switch my gears to Cladonia again to work on the next tray of collections. #lichen

3/2: I have a practical question - how do I prevent these soil samples from disintegrating. During drying they just crumble to pieces.

@spribille.bsky.social , @aspenecology.com there must be some better way to sample these intact?! Any best practices?

Brown apothecium (maybe, lower centre of the image)

Section of apothecium(?) in water.

Squish showing green algae and brown thallus parts (C-)

Section of granular thallus showing compact algae filled lichen formations.

It maybe had apothecia, however without spores - or just pronounced pieces of thallus? So no luck there either.

Still made me think about how many small and seemingly unimportant things we overlook. 2/2