Threatened lichen saved through transplantation

"Threatened lichen saved through transplantation,"

"The rare skorpdagglaven looks to go for a brighter future. The lichen that was previously only found in a few locations in southern Sweden has started to grow in several directions – thanks to the transplantation."

"– Yes, it is so rare, so you need to targeted measures, for example, transplantering, " says Gabrielle Rosquist, the coordinator of the action programmes for threatened species county administrative board of Skåne."

"Skorpdagglaven has until now only been found at seven locations in the country – including four in Skåne. It has until now mainly grown on the elm and ash – two disease-species which are in danger of disappearing. Thanks to a räddningsprojekt for the lichen that had taken place within the framework of a national action programme, the county administrative board in Skåne managed to get the species to spread to more places."

"Rescue? Transplantation of lichens to several kinds of tree species, " says Gabrielle Rosquist."

"It's going well on the lind and maple and oak," she says, and describes how to work with the transplants have gone to."

"and Secondly, you can take the flour that may be on the bench, and put it out so it attaches to another tree. Another way is to simply cut out a piece of lichen and move it, " she says."

"– Yes, it punches out a barkplugg from a tree with lichen, and punches out the equivalent of the tree where you want to move it. So moved it over."

"2007 was the first transplanteringarna. Ten years later, it was found that the experiment succeeded. The lichen was still present at between 70 and 90 per cent of the trees where it moved. In the process of expanding skorpdagglaven on a total of 116 trees distributed among twelve sites in Skåne."

"We are very pleasantly surprised," says Gabrielle Rosquist."

"A lichen looks like a sort of crust and grows on bare surfaces such as stone, wood, and bark."

"It consists of two different organisms, usually a fungus and an alga, that live off each other."

"There are over 2,000 different species of lichens in Sweden."

"Skorpdagglaven (Diploicia canescens) is critically endangered in Sweden."

"In Skåne has skorpdagglaven only been found at seven locations in Sweden, four in Skåne: the Kullaberg nature reserve, Trolle Ljungby, Balsberget and Bäckaskog castle."

"so Far, almen been just skorpdagglavens main värdträd in Sweden. When the trees are affected by diseases, and harvested even risk the lichen to disappear."

"the Lichen can live in both the desert and the Arctic."

"It is sensitive to air pollution."

"Sources: the County administrative board of Skåne , the Swedish national encyclopaedia, A museum and the environmental protection agency"