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Title: BOOK REVIEW OF LICHENS

Author
item Rossman, Amy

Submitted to: Inoculum
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/15/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: This beautiful book on lichens is dynamite! Filled with gorgeous colored photographs, this book should increase the visibility of lichens if only for their aesthetics. I found the prose to be interesting and informative even to a mycologist somewhat knowledgeable about lichens. The basic information about lichens, i.e. a symbiosis that allows growth in harsh environments, the variability about their morphology, mainly ascomycetes plus a few basidiomycetes, is presented in an easily understood manner. With rarely a full page of text to read, many points are illustrated with colorful diagrams and graphs such as "how water and nutrients are absorbed by lichens." Other topics include the role of lichens in rock weathering and their use in biomonitoring, e.g., in detection of metals in rocks, for measuring the increase/decrease in air pollutants, and for monitoring contamination by radioactive elements derived from nuclear bombing tests. The historical idea that the biblical manna desert bread of life was a lichen is given credence by an amazing photograph of a field of the orange, shrubby lichen Teloschistes covering the desert floor in Namibia. The book concludes with a chapter on practical projects with lichens that students could undertake. My recommendation is that every mycologist purchase this book, read it, and require that your mycology students do the same.