If you take a close look at some of the more established trees in your landscape, you may notice something you cannot seem to describe – it may look to you like a kind of fungus on your tree trunk. Is ...

AS I'VE written in the past, fungi are a strange bunch – neither plant nor animal, but their own separate biological kingdom.

It’s been estimated that some 20,000 species of lichens cover 6 to 8% of the planet’s land surfaces, even though referring to the existence of even one species of lichen is just plain crazy talk. In ...

I know many of us want winter to come to an end, but I would like just one more good snowstorm. I love all seasons, but I need a little more of that winter bleakness in the woods, primarily to help me ...

João Araújo finds zombie ants fascinating — not just because of their parasitic situation, but because they can be found in your backyard. “I found one last week literally by my door,” said Araújo, a ...

A team of researchers with members from the U.S. and several South American countries has found that a type of lichen that grows in several parts of Central and South America consists of at least 126 ...

Lichens -- a combo of fungus and algae -- can grow on bare rocks, so scientists thought that lichens were some of the first organisms to make their way onto land from the water, changing the planet's ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Thorsten Lumbsch, curator of lichenized fungi at the Field Museum ...

When the asteroid hit, dinosaurs weren't the only ones that suffered. Clouds of ash blocked the sun and cooled the planet's temperature, devastating plant life. But fungi, which decompose dead stuff, ...

A new study reveals that the evolution of sunscreen pigments in lichen-forming fungi has been governed by the reshuffling of existing enzyme genes and novel accessory genes into new gene clusters.