white lichens

Description:

The white paint-like things across the bark of some trees are lichens, and they are as normal and natural a part of healthy forests as are warblers. Lichens exist in beautiful diversity, and the vast majority of them do absolutely no harm to trees. Lichens play several vital roles in the forest, from water and nutrient cycling to providing food for mammals, nest materials for birds, cover for mites, and camouflage for tree frogs and lacewings. Some are even used by scientists as indicators of air quality. Lichens are good. Lichens are not plants at all. They are not mosses either. A lichen is not even a single entity. It is a composite of two different organisms functioning as one. It is something between a fungus and an alga or cyanobacteria.

Habitat:

These white lichens were spotted high up in a very large live oak tree in the Ocala National Forest in Ocala, Florida.