Mapping Species Distributions

THE LICHEN CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

Get involved and help build our knowledge of this invasive species!

Orange wall lichen (Xanthoria parietina), photo by Tim Wheeler

Are you ready for E-Flora's new Lichen Citizen Science Project?

The orange wall lichen (Xanthoria parietina) is an easy to recognize invasive lichen species that has made its way into British Columbia and is spreading across the province and elsewhere in North America. Lichenologist and researcher Trevor Goward would like to document its spread and occurrence throughout BC and along the western US. You are invited to help map this species via E-Flora BC by submitting photographs to our photo database, with location coordinates, from wherever you come across it. Look for it from BC south to California to the Rocky Mountains. If the coordinates are included, then 'your' dot will appear on our distribution map for this species.

This is a good project for winter or summer!

What does this species look like and where do I find it?

The orange wall lichen (shown in the photo above) is a species of yellow foliose or leafy lichen now commonly found on tree trunks in southwestern British Columbia. It has a distinctive large, yellow-orange thallus (the leafy looking parts) with overlapping lobes. It is a calcicole (lime-loving) lichen often found in alkaline substrates as well as on siliceous rock (Armstrong 1990). It is pollution tolerant, and shows preference for sunny exposed sites that are nitrogen-rich. It can be found growing on trees, rocks, and manmade structures wherever nitrogen levels are high.

View our E-Flora photos for this species here.

In British Columbia, you can view a population of this lichen in Garry Point Park, in Steveston (Richmond), on deciduous trees adjacent to the parking lot and fast food outlet. These trees are proximal to the shoreline, within reach of the spray zone.

How do I participate?

Participation is easy. If you are already a photographer on E-Flora, then just submit your photos of this species, with coordinates.

If you are not yet a photographer, but would like to be, then register with us (here) and we will give you a password so you can upload your photos of this brightly coloured lichen. Learn more about citizen science on E-Flora BC here.

All photos will be reviewed by Trevor Goward for identification accuracy, but Trevor says this is a really easy one to recognize, and easy to spot on tree trunks.

Photos should be as clear as possible. When you upload your photo to E-Flora, let us know which tree species this lichen was growing on, if you can.

If you have any questions, contact us.

Visit Trevor's website The Ways of Enlichenment and learn about the work in progress on the lichens of Northwest North America.