NW Lichenologists Resource Center

Keys -- Regional Herbaria -- Literature -- Other PNW web sites -- Organizations -- Tools and chemicals -- Information for Schools -- Miscellaneous Lichen Activities

Keys

Lichen Genera in the Pacific Northwest (B. McCune)

Preliminary Keys to the Typically Sterile Crustose Lichens in North America (J. Lendemer)

Note: some keys formerly available here have been migrated to the revised version of McCune & Geiser's (2009) Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest. Want to share your key to a group of lichens in the Pacific NW, western North America, or North America? Put your key on a file server and send the link to the secretary. We recommend posting pdf files for reliable reproduction of formatted text on many printers and computers. Also, be sure to see the Lichen Key Archive. The Lichen Key Archive provides a central location for lichen keys worldwide, and hopefully will encourage others to contribute keys to the lichenological community.

Regional Herbaria

Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria

British Columbia

UBC -- University of British Columbia, Vancouver

California

UC and Jepson Herbarium, Berkeley

Idaho

Montana

Oregon

Washington

Literature

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Online References

Other web sites on NW Lichens

Topical

Personal pages including info on PNW lichens

Organizations

Local and regional groups

North American Fungi (online journal, formerly Pacific Northwest Fungi)
Pacific Northwest Fungi Project
OSU Lichen/bryophyte research group
Seattle Lichen Group
North Puget Sound Lichen Study Group (no web site, but the list server for this group's
events (class and fieldtrip) is npslichens@yahoogroups.com (contact is Melissa Duffy)
California Lichen Society (CALS)

National

American Bryological and Lichenological Society (ABLS)

International

International Association of Lichenologists (IAL) (includes list of members and email addresses)
Mycology Net (for MNet email directory select Contacts | Addresses | Mycologists and Lichenologists)
BLAM (Bryologisch-lichenologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Mitteleuropa )
British Lichen Society
Estonian Lichenology
Italian Lichen Society
Nordic Lichen Society

Tools and chemicals

NWL does not endorse particular businesses. This list is a response to repeated request for sources for tools and lichen reagents. Additional sources are welcome.

See the various views on lichen curation materials.
Carbide-tipped rock chisels, UV lamps, rock hammers, Hastings triplet hand lenses: Miners Inc, 800 824 7452
Hastings triplet hand lenses, UV lamps, many kinds of field equipment: Forestry Suppliers, 800 647 5368
PD reagent (para-phenylenediamine) - Photographers' Formulary, PO Box 950, Condon MT 5982.
<formulary@blackfoot.net>. In their 2005 catalog, this was available at $5 for 10 g; also available in larger quantities.
Ceramic spot plates used for spot tests can be purchased from scientific supply places, but they are unnecessarily expensive. You can use any ceramic or glass object, even a simple microscope slide. But if you use clear glass, you should put it over a white card. If you know a potter, they can make a flat plate a few inches square using white porcelain clay, make a series of smooth depressions with a finger, then fire it with a clear glaze. If someone wants to make and sell these, we can list them as a source here.
Dropper bottles can also be purchased from science supply places. We have heard that you can also get them from pharmacists. Try to get small ones with brown glass. (The brown reduces the photo-degradation of C reagent, which can happen very quickly if you work in a sunny window). You can also just tape over a clear bottle to make it opaque, brown glass is nice because you can see in it.
It's great to have a nice pair of superfine but strong forceps (tweezers). Cheap ones are easy to come by, as are cheap imitations of good ones. Based on recommendations that surfaced on the Bryonet listserver, one supplier of good forceps is BioQuip #4524, around $20. I use Rubis model 4A, and these have been great. Athough I cannot remember where I bought them, I'm sure I didn't order them from Switzerland. Other people sound quite happy with relatively inexpensive tweezers, such as Erem EROP5SAV Anti-Acid, Micro-Point Tweezers, available from Fry's Electronics, currently for $6.

Online Mapping Tools

Google Earth -- Extremely useful for obtaining geographic coordinates and elevations. This is a free download. Just type in Google Earth into your browser search window.
Google Maps -- Click the "Maps" heading in the Google search page. This is a handy companion to Google Earth. In particular, try the "terrain" checkbox under the "More" heading. The main drawback to Google Maps and Google Earth is the fairly small database of searchable names.
Google maps lat/long tool on crustose.net
Geographical names in Canada
Geography Network
Microsoft TerraServer-USA

Online Microphotography

Micro-Tech-Lab sells quality adapters for putting your digital camera on either a photo tube on a scope or an eyepiece on a scope. Some people hand hold a camera to the eyepiece, but your results will be much better and more consistent if you buy an adapter. These are not cheap, but life is short, and the pleasures of microphotography are many.
If you have found other solutions that work well, send them to me and I will add them to the list.

Information for Schools

Miscellaneous Lichen Activities

Usnoku -- A game for building skills in identification of difficult groups with chemical data.

Pacific Northwest Field Research Centers

Lichen