A STUDY OF DISTRIBUTION OF LICHEN BIODIVERSITY FROM BIOPROSPECTION

<p>Formed by the symbiotic relationship of representatives of as many as three kingdoms&mdash;fungi<br>and a protista or a monera&mdash;lichens are a distinct class of perennial cryptogamic creatures.<br>Theophrastus, the "father of botany," used the name "lichen" in 300 B.C. to describe the thin<br>layer of lichens that forms on the outer layer of olive tree bark. When first characterized, lichens<br>were classified with other algae and mosses based on their outward appearance. On the other<br>hand, de Tournefort (1700) classified "lichens" as a distinct genus within the plant kingdom. Erik<br>Acharius, the "father of lichenology," invented various words based on the unusual structures of<br>lichens, and he classified many new genera and species based on exterior morphology in his<br>enormous works. After the invention of the microscope, the dualistic theory of lichens was<br>discovered, and since then, other definitions have been developed for use in modern writings.<br>Until the publication of "Introductory Mycology," lichens were understood to be any relationship<br>between a fungus and an alga in which the two organisms were so entangled as to form a single<br>thallus. Nevertheless, lichens were properly characterized by Kirk et al. (2001) as an ecologically<br>obligatory, persistent mutualism between an exhabitant fungal partner and a resident population<br>of extracellularly situated unicellular or filamentous algal or cyanobacterial cells.</p>