#lichen answers

[lichenaday]

hey you said that you study lichen, does that include growing them? my mum keeps trying to grow lichen off fallen branches and they just die. does anyone know how to grow them?

So my lab is one of many lichen lab groups trying to grow lichens and like, no, you really can't. Even with our super specialized equipment and knowledge and light and climate and humidity controls, we can only grow lichens for a short amount of time. Lichens function on a completely different time-scale than a lot of other organisms. They grow very slowly, and so adapt pretty precisely to where they are. And if something in their environment changes or they move to a new location, their first response is to go into a dormant state and wait for conditions to improve, and if possible, slowly adapt to these new conditions outside the scale of human observation. I am talking like, decades of slow progress. We also think that the microorganisms associated with lichens might play a more key role in their growth than we are aware of, but that is just a theory. Don't quote me on that. We still aren't entirely sure. Lots of folks are trying to figure this out in light of climate change and expanding habitat degradation--both to better understand lichen adaptability and ecophysiological responses to this rapidly changing world, and to house and cultivate endangered species before we lose them in nature.

Also as a side note, there's a cafe in my town that has a "moss wall" that is just Cladonia lichen dyed green (the kind you often find in craft stores). The waiter there was like "It's living! We spray it every day so it stays healthy!" and I was just like . . . girl ok whatever.

[jbbartram-illu]

Would you be open to sharing your lichen tattoo? That sounds awesome!

Totally!! I love showing it off & as a bonus (?) I'll also throw in my latest tattoo (from february), a hand-poked Lascaux horse (I plan to add two more so I have a small bicep-herd)!

Lichen:

& Lascaux-horse (the closeup was from right after it was done, so it's a little angry-looking...I still need a proper fully-healed photo, but the awkward, look ma, same horse! snapshot is all I have for now)

[lorata]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! YOU ARE GREAT AND YOU DESERVE AN AWESOME YEAR FULL OF LICHENS AND NICE ANONS AND STEADY EMPLOYMENT

you know what that is a GREAT invocation and i'll take it :)

2024 lichen highlights under the readmore!

[thunderworks]

slides in to ask about your au again

uhhh what are the flowers/lycanthropy like (if you've got a concept for them wjeelkzsedldf)

same for barracuda-

random fun facts about beetle if you've got any perchance,,

HAYLO 💥

Lichen: a little gremlin of a creature. Did not exist before game events. Beetle made him on accident while messing with the Tree shard’s powers. Something of a cricket-puppy.

Notes on the page

feral little beast of a man

born pink from a corrupted triangle as Beetle was messing with his power

neck spikes

jumping legs (cricket?)

spike tail looks like a bunny 😔

(I’m actually not too opposed to the tail now, I think it’s cute. That was the main homage to the original flowers in the game)

Flowers: TBD

Barracuda: TBD

random fun facts about Beetle 🪲

Actually a very good cook, he just doesn’t feel like making anything complicated unless guests come over

Will make things when Bloc comes over

Still has a soft spot for taking care of plants, now that he’s no longer a farmer. Maintains a tiny garden outside of the cave

Bloc brought him seeds of more variety

Remains living in the cave after game events, it’s one of the only existing structures large enough for him to live in. A group effort makes it substantially more cozy (including a giant quilt made by many grandmas)

Heli is initially extremely apprehensive of him. They’re concerned about Bloc going to visit, not wanting her to get sick. Warms up to Beetle once she sees how gentle he is in-person

Kindof scared of Cyan both before & after game events

Mentor figure to Citrine (Circle), sees himself in them

Favorite pie is lemon pie

Im contemplating a Pikuniku crossover. Two pink “monsters” who live in a cave & like to take care of plants

[transmasc-wizard]

nanowrimo day one opening paragraph woo

[bugintheruins]

to add on to last ask i mean smthn like the 2's reactions or like .......... interior design choices, tea time

MEANT TO ANSWER AGES AGO heres some teatime while discussing music :]

and heres some more doodles :'D

[nerochinchin]

Happy Valentine's Day, you mean a lot to me and I'm really glad we've become so close. I can't wait to see you this Friday, I love you a lot <3

i love you bunches ♡♡♡ we'll have a good time, ye. you'll haveta scrape me off with a shoehorn maybe by the end

[balthazarslostlibrary]

Do you prefer lichen composed of algae or cyanobacteria?

An extremely good question.

I enjoy both, however my favourite genus of lichen is the Cladonia genus, in which I am including both the Cladonia and Cladina morphotypes, which are lichens that primarily associate with algae. I love their little cups and horns, and some are quite beautiful. Related lichen such as Pulchrocladia sp. are also very very pretty and make me think of lacy dresses. I would love to see an outfit based off of P retipora.

Here are some photos I have of Cladonia sp.

Cladonia sp. Cladonia morphotype. Note the singularly attached, un-branched cups and horns, growing from small wart like deposits on the ground.

Cladonia sp. Cladina morphotype. Highly branched with much thinner cups and horns. More moss-like.

Pulchrocladia rangifera, not in the Cladonia genus, in the same family. Possibly one of the prettiest lichens I have seen.

I do love cyanobacteria associated lichens such as the dog lichens found in the genus Peltigera, purely because they have such striking dark blue colourations, almost to the point of being black. See below a dog lichen I found as part of a trip collecting herbarium samples.

Fun fact, in the process of digging this lichen out of the rotting log it was on, the safety catch failed on the knife I was using and closed so heavily on my finger that it severe the nerves on the end of my index finger!

[channelsoph]

do you ever think about lichen

well i do now yeah… assuming you meant the fungi and algae symbiosis and not the skin disease.

last year i used to think a lot about mushrooms in general, cause the system of it is fascinating and scary. and of course because The Last Of Us

there was this book that i really liked called “Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures” by Merlin Sheldrake. great mushroom book, 10/10 would recommend. i don’t specifically remember it focusing on lichen but it’s a great read all in all

i really liked the description of lichen on USDA Forest Sevice. they describe it as symbiosis of two separate organisms, fungus and algae, and the use phrase “dominant partner” for fungus. i bet someone already wrote a fanfiction/created art about this dynamic lmao i would be 100% down to read/behold

i’m fully yapping at this point but i held an art exhibition last year which explored macro and microstructures and there was this girl who’s art stood out to me. her art process was that she gathered samples of organisms in the forest, studied them under a microscope and created her works based on those studies. the outcome were these beautiful abstract paintings where she used different media to convey the structure of those organisms. one of the paintings was named “Moss and Mushrooms”, i think it does the fungus justice

Lea Hoffbauer, “Moss and Mushrooms”, 2020 (on the right)

here’s a link to her website if you want to explore more of her works <3

[lichenhaunt]

I had a dream last night that we hung out in person and you gave me stellar outfit advice 🖤

A sign from God himself ur taste is trash tbh

[liches-covered-in-lich]

2, 3 and 10 for the artist ask game!! :D

(ha ignore that it has been Almost a Year AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)

Thanks for the ask, bestie!!!

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

From the front as I can just cheat and use the mirror tool. But it makes adding details fun hehehe

3. What ideas come from when you were little

Oh as a kiddo, I fuckin LOVED minecraft. I had so many mincraft ocs from the game, Aphmau roleplays, and devianart comic series! Also funny enough, that one 3d ninja turtle series gave me a lot of inspiration. I made a cat dragon hybrid oc!

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

S l e e v es. Especially puffy ones. I love the folds <3 makes me fall in love with art all over again

[lichenaday]

May I ask a question on lichens? I'm writing a series where some partially organic robots can grow their own materials due to their individual components being alive, and for example their brain is a slime mold and their skin is made of lichen. Which type of lichen would be most believable in this context?

That sounds like a cool concept. Very Scavenger's Regin (if you haven't seen it, I encourage everyone who can tolerate body horror to watch it). Look, they are all probably equally unlikely, so you can go ham with it. It's your story do what you want. But for like, a little bit of realism, there are some lichens that are better at growing on synthetic substrates and are more adaptable and fast growing than others. Xanthoria parietina is probably the most adaptable lichen out there. Will pretty much grow wherever on whatever

Xanthoparmelia is another lichen genus commonly found colonizing metal, plastic, cloth, and even glass

It could also be cool to see robots from different environments with different lichen species adapted to their climate conditions! Or maybe the select based on aesthetics. Whatever you do, I am just glad you are integrating lichen into your worldbuilding!

[botanyshitposts]

hey i found this guy in ireland by the sea recently- looks like it's growing in waves?

any idea what's up with that?

thanks!

asks to put in the vault for a simple answer in 100 years when humanity learns how lichens work

[silentheiss]

“Five years?” Shen Qingqiu gasped. “I can’t see my husband for five years, because you can’t write a single fucking page of an adequate plot?”

Shang Qinghua took another step back. He’s been doing it every couple of minutes since he’s burst into Shen Qingqiu’s house, carrying the worst news ever.

“Well, to be completely fair, this particular plot line didn’t make it to the novel!” The hamster of a man squeaked. Shen Qingqiu knew he was making himself look pathetic on purpose. He took great satisfaction in knowing that it wouldn’t help him in the slightest.

“Oh! In such case it’s fine I guess! Your shitty novel didn’t suffer.” Shen Qingqiu snapped his fan open and took a step towards Shang Qinghua. “It’s only a small matter of my marriage, then.”

“Cucumber-bro,” Shang Qinghua pleaded. “I’m so, so sorry, but at least I got here in time, right? What’s five years for immortal cultivators? Painful death would be much worse.”

He was right about that, at least. Painful death that Shen Qingqiu was about to inflict on his ex-best-friend would be horrific.

“I will kill you now.” He said. “Don’t forget to tell me how painful it is.”

Shang Qinghua scrammed. Shen Qingqiu let him, but only because his knees were a little weak and he wasn’t about to embarrass himself by collapsing in the middle of murder attempt.

He took a careful breath and lowered himself on the nearest surface, which turned out to be the floor, but he was at his house and there was no one to witness that. He could sit on the floor all he wanted. Because his husband got himself cursed and wouldn’t be coming back home anytime soon — if at all.

Five years.

Shen Qingqiu sat on the floor of Bamboo House for what must’ve been a long time, because when Liu Qingge barged in it was already dark.

“Shixiong.”

“Liu-shidi.” Shen Qingqiu blinked up at him. “Why are you here?”

“Your disciples worried.”

Ah, Ming Fan and his snitching habits.

“This master is fine.” Shen Qingqiu said. He didn’t try to stand up — his legs have long since gone numb.

“You don’t look fine, do you?”

Liu-shidi, since when are you so talkative?!

Shen Qingqiu frowned and decided not to deign his martial brother with an answer.

“Binghe got cursed.” His mouth said without his consent. “Eternal Heart-Penury Winds. In Lichen Caves. He forgot me and everything connected to me. It’s not for actual eternity, though, if I stay away from him for five years. If I fail, and he sees my face for even a second, then it’s for eternity. How’s that?”

Liu Qingge didn’t say anything. Which, of course he didn’t. What was Shen Qingqiu even thinking, talking to him about it? He knew his Shidi was allergic to feelings of any kind.

It’s just that he wouldn’t see Luo Binghe for five whole years. They’ve been married for four and a half. How was one supposed to react to such a thing?

“I’ll make you some tea.” Liu Qingge muttered and left the room. Shen Qingqiu stayed on the floor, mind just as numb as his body.

[gublersquill]

Under the Stars - gublersquill

Spencer x BAU Reader

Spencer finally admits his feelings for reader under the stars 

AN: Hi loves! Thanks so much for all the support on my last post. It means so much that people like my work. If you guys have any fic suggestions leave them in my answer section <3 

TW: Fluff, fluff, fluff, a little kissing, Use of Y/N (sorry 🙁) 

WC: 0.9K

The gravel crunches under your boots, the soft sound harmonizing with the creaking of the trees in the wind. Soft, rustling leaves surround you, shifting your senses and drawing you deeper into the dark forest. A shiver runs down your spine as the breeze slips through the knit of your sweater, pin pricking your skin.

"Are you okay, Spencer?" you ask, glancing at the man behind you. At first, you were hesitant to enter the forest, knowing his fears of the dark. But the way his amber eyes crinkled with excitement about the surprise he had arranged—and the flip in your stomach that followed—convinced you to indulge in this twilight escapade.

He shuffles along, tightly gripping the strap of his bag. Suddenly, he stops, glancing up through the foliage above. “You know, the Greek goddess of stars—or, well, falling stars—is a Titaness,” he says with a shy grin. “Her name was Asteria, and she was also the goddess of nighttime divination.” He chuckles softly, quickening his pace to catch up with you. “I think she might make a great character for a children’s book.”

The path evens out, the gravel giving way to a carpet of delicate lichen covering the forest floor. Spencer reaches for your hand, guiding you over a fallen tree. His hand covers yours, warm and steady, despite his fears—a small assurance in his presence.

“Where are we going?” you whisper, not wanting to break the soft spell the forest seems to have cast. Carefully placing your feet along the forest floor you stare at the nature surrounding you letting out a featherlight breath.

Spencer glances around slowly before replying, “Just through to that clearing.” He grasps your hand again, gently leading you forward. As you step into the clearing, you look up at the sky. The halo of trees breaks apart, revealing a smattering of stars scattered across the dark expanse above.

He continues guiding you further into the clearing, where a woven rug interrupts the forest floor. A telescope sits on it, accompanied by a cooler bag and neatly folded blankets.

“Spencer, you actually did this?” you ask, stunned, as he lowers himself onto the rug and begins fiddling with the gears on the telescope in front of him.

He turns to look at you, a small smile tugging at his lips. “I remembered you saying how much you missed seeing the stars the way they looked in your hometown because of the light pollution. So, I thought we could watch them while we’re away from Virginia,” he says, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.

You sit next to him wrapping your arms around him in a tight embrace. He pauses before curling his arms around you enveloping you in his warmth. The smell of old books, coffee and something uniquely spencer surrounds you as you sigh into his hold. 

Pulling away feels like being yanked out of a comforting dream, one you can only barely remember. “Thank you,” you say earnestly. You raise your hand, tangling it reverently in his hair.

“Y/N,” Spencer sighs, his voice shaky as he tries to form the words he’s been practicing. His eyes flicker from your face to the hand on his cheek and the gentle movement of your fingers brushing through his curls.

“Are you okay?” you ask, moving your hand to his forehead. “You feel warm. Are you getting sick?” You take his face in your hands, trying to feel if he has a fever.

“I’m not sick,” he sighs, raising his hand to clasp one of yours. “The warmth of my skin is a physiological response to an emotional or environmental stimulus. It’s caused by the sympathetic nervous system widening the capillaries under my skin. It actually—”

“You’re blushing?” you ask, gently interrupting his spiraling thoughts.

“I am,” he sighs, looking back at you. “I need to tell you something.”

You look at him, only now noticing how close you are—curled into his shoulder, noses almost touching, his hand enveloping yours, resting against his face.

Falling.

You don’t know who moved forward first, and you don’t find many reasons to care as his lips press against yours. Eyes fluttering closed, you tangle your fingers in his hair as his lips brush yours.

He kisses you longingly, slowly memorizing the curve of your mouth, the warmth of your skin against his. He had wanted this for months—admiring the way you were so kind to the victims, how your face lit up when you talked about psychology, how your head tipped back slightly when you laughed, revealing the elegant column of your neck.

YYou pull back, both gasping for air.

“Is that what you wanted to tell me?” you ask, grinning, your lips swollen as you place a delicate kiss on his cheek.

“Yes,” he sighs. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t get it out right. I wanted this to be perfect.” He curls a lock of your hair around his fingers.

“It was perfect,” you insist. “I like you. Like, a lot.”

Your eyes flicker up, drawn to the night sky, the stars flickering above you as if urging you on.

Spencer’s cheeks tingle again with a soft blush. “Let me show you something.”

He adjusts the dials on the telescope, positioning it just right before gesturing for you to look through it.

“Do you see that?” he asks. “That’s the Cassiopeia constellation, and just to the right is the Heart Nebula. It glows red from within—classifying it as an emission nebula—due to hydrogen ionized into plasma by nearby stars.”

“It’s beautiful,” you gasp, mesmerized by the red hue reflecting through the telescope’s lens.

He looks at you instead, tracing his gaze over your face—the tilt of your lips, the way your eyebrows scrunch in concentration.

“Yes, it is.”

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

not a desert technically but I just visited the dunes in Monterey and gleefully trampled on some ice plant and I feel like you might enjoy that. if you wanna talk about the kinds of vegetation that grow in sandy soil or something I invite you to 👀

(also you're doing it! you're surviving! you'll get through that doctorate!)

ok ready this is my most important soapbox of all because soils in the desert are very special and have such cool organisms you don't find in these arrangements outside of drylands...

first lookee here. wauw beautiful utah

ok now look closer

no closer closer closer

CLOSER CLOSER CLOSER

WOW is that MOSS? you are thinking. the answer is YES. but doesn't moss like lots of water you are thinking??? WELL USUALLY. BUT in the desert you will notice that things like grasses and shrubs have lots of space between them unlike in more temperate climates-vegetation cover is not truly continuous. And there's less leaf litter than in forests obscuring the dirt. Which means all that soil is just sitting out in the open with nothing to protect it from being blown away by those harsh desert winds... except of course for our friends the BIOLOGICAL SOIL CRUSTS. also known as crypotbiotic soils, cryptogrammic soils, and biocrusts (for short).

These are communities of mosses, lichens, cyanobacteria (aka blue green algae--yes, those are usually Wet too, but ironically so so common in deserts), and the tens of thousands of surface and subsurface microbes that are associated with them. It's easy to forget just how many organisms are living in one single scoop of soil, especially because science can barely identify 1% of these microbes. Like of JUST the ones we have enough info to classify enough to count in my own master's dataset left me with over 25,000 unique taxonomic units I had to manage. don't worry about what that means just know it was very annoying and makes statistics a headache. anyway you find them all over the southwest US states as well as in other deserts around the world (spain, australia, sooo many in china, incredible ones in the succulent karoo in south africa/namibia, plenty in argentina etc etc), if you know where to look...

anyway OUR HEROS THE BIOCRUST aren't just there to look pretty (though you will can see from photos they also do this :) ), but are a vital component to the dryland ecosystem! They literally hold the soil surface together to prevent erosion, they influence hydrology in terms of rainfall runoff + infiltration, they impact how seeds germinate, they contribute to nutrient cycling and what plant-available compounds are held at the soil surface... like i feel like Tumblr in general has been made aware of how fungi & root networks interact in large scale systems like forests, but that is also happening on a more microscopic level in deserts! just in the top couple centimeters soooo much is happening. Cyanobacteria in particular are tiny organisms that produce little nets of sugars woven in the soil to climb around on and protect themselves, and if you crumble a little bit of soil from the surface you can see how the little spiderweb strings literally hold together the sand particles.

Now that you're Aware of biocrusts, when you look at larger scale landscape photos taken in un-trampled areas of desert, you will notice them as darker patches and textures on the lighter soil:

Yep there's these tiny little communities all over, that many people never learn to see. And now what I said before about mosses & cyanobacteria usually preferring wet environments--they have in fact adapted to life in the desert in ways that means they're dormant for most of the year. They live in stasis until the rainy season hits (or in some cases, winter moisture from a snow layer--many will photosynthesize through a few inches of snow since it's clear/white), and then burst into color and life. Many patches of biocrust will look utterly lifeless and dried out at first and then become vibrant and swell up within a few minutes of being exposed to moisture. Lichens, while more vibrant even when dry, will also mostly only grow/reproduce while wet. And biocrusts come in all sorts of colors, shapes, and preferred microhabitats!

anyway this post is long enough already so i'll be quick. while beautiful and important as you can imagine these are FRAGILE. if they get trampled too much, by humans or cows or cars, that's it. you're back to bare soil that can blow away whenever it wants.

I was lucky to get to participate in a 2x/year survey of one of the very few places in Utah to NEVER have cattle grazing or development, a remote area the entrance is kept secret to inside Canyonlands National Park, where you can see just how dense and lush biocrusts once could be in the US southwest:

ah... glorious. what special little guys. this is why if you visit many of the national parks in Utah you will see signs & stickers around with slogans like "Don't Bust The Crust" and "Tiptoe Through The Crypto" and etc. so heed that advice but DO stop and kneel down and get a better look at them!