Activity 1: Discovering Local Lichens

Goal: To become familiar with the diversity of lichen in the local area, and lichens' typical substrates.

Class time: 1-2 hours.

Definition: Substrate- An under (sub) layer (stratum). Latin In Biology, the medium on which something grows.

Materials:
• Local map, if available.
• British museum lichen map (optional)
• Drawing paper
• Pencils
• Scrapbook

In this activity your class will go on an informal walk, learning how to locate lichens and to consider their various substrates.

Encourage your students to count the different lichens (without worrying yet about species or growth forms) around their homes and then consider whether the lichen counts reflect their setting (urban, suburban, farm, countryside,woods.) What is growing in the same area and might or might not be a lichen? What kind of substrates (type of trees, rocks, soil) do your lichens grow upon? When your students have enough confidence in lichen sighting,they are ready to begin a more systematic collection of data. Take the British Museum Lichen Chart with an overlay with you. If students are ready, consult the chart to identify specific types of lichens, or at least those forms closest to those in England.

The artists of the class could help out by drawing or photographing the
lichens. Perhaps the class would like to make a scrapbook, with a drawing of a lichen matched to a brief paragraph describing where it grew and when it was observed. This would be a valuable book for future students to compare with their own results.

Extension: Students might count the different lichens (again, without worrying about species or growth forms) around their homes and then consider whether the lichen counts reflect their setting (urban, suburban, farm, countryside,woods.)

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