365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Friday, December 4, 2015
Sectioning For Spores
Day 52: I am extremely grateful to Dr. Irwin Brodo (author of the forty-pound field guide, "Lichens of North America," and Ernie to his friends) for his patience in instructing me how to section lichen apothecia in order to reveal the spores. I can now do a much better imitation of a microtome than previously. We have not positively identified this specimen as of this writing, but evidence suggests that it is Alectoria sarmentosa, a common species often found growing on Douglas Fir. The sample on the left was scraped from the apothecial disk of a dry specimen; the one on the right is fresh material. My new microscope is proving to be a valuable tool in furthering my knowledge of lichens.
Labels:
Alectoria sarmentosa,
apothecia,
Irwin Brodo,
lichens,
Longmire,
Macy Dorm,
microscopy,
MORA,
spores
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment