Degelia plumbea explained

Degelia plumbea (also called blue felt lichen)^[1] is a species of grey to blue-black or brown foliose lichen in the genus Degelia.^[2] It mostly grows on trees in undisturbed woodlands but occasionally on coastal rocks.^[3] It is found widely in Britain and western Ireland as well as in America and Canada, as it grows in maritime Atlantic climates.^{[4] [5]}

D. plumbea is highly sensitive to acid rain and climatic changes. D. plumbea and other lichen are highly sensitive to high light and have a high-water holding capacity. Other factors like method of dispersal and obtaining the appropriate substrate effects the growth and prosperity of the fungi. The genes in the D. plumbea don’t share a common ancestral gene through speciation due to potential environmental changes.^{[6] [7] [8]}

Degelia cyanoloma was previously thought to be a variant of D. plumbea.^[9]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Blue Felt Lichen Degelia plumbea . iNaturalist . 6 April 2020.
2. Web site: Species: Degelia plumbea sens. str. . Irish Lichens . 3 April 2020.
3. Web site: Degelia plumbea (Lightf.) P.M.Jørg. & P.James . Lichen Ireland . 3 April 2020.
4. Web site: Degelia plumbea (Lightf.) P.M. Jørg. & P. James degelia lichen . USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Plants Database . 3 April 2020.
5. Web site: Pectenia plumbea (Lightf.) P.M. Jørg., L. Lindblom, Wedin & Ekman (redirected from: Degelia plumbea (Lightf.) P.M. Jørg. & P. James) . Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria . 3 April 2020.
6. Ekman, S., Wedin, M., Lindblom, L., & Jorgensen, P. M. . ). Extended phylogeny and a revised generic classification of the Pannariaceae (Peltigerales, Ascomycota) . The Lichenologist (London) . 2014 . 46 . 5 . 627–656 . 10.1017/S002428291400019X .
7. Gauslaa, Y., & Solhaug, K. . Significance of thallus size for the water economy of the cyanobacterial old-forest lichen Degelia plumbea . Oecologia . 1998 . 116 . 1/2 . 76–84 . 10.1007/s004420050565 . 28308543 . 1998Oecol.116...76G .
8. Web site: COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Blue Felt Lichen Degelia plumbea in Canada . Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada . 3 April 2020 . November 2010.
9. Web site: Degelia plumbea (Lightf.) P.Jørg. & P.James . Images of British Lichens . 3 April 2020 . 17 September 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210917080302/http://www.lichens.lastdragon.org/Degelia_plumbea.html . dead .