Lichens of Lough Corrib

Rouillaun Mór

Area 5: 53.50127n , 9.44557w

In Area 5 we were right on the tip of the east side of the island. In this area we only found one type of lichen (which turned out to be very common on the second ruaillaun on the west side). This lichen was very scarce even though it was the only lichen in the area. This was in foliose form, but we are unsure if it is Caloplaca thallincola or the Xanthoria parientina ( for the latter lichen it is said that it occurs “where nitrogen enriched by bird or animal droppings” (Grasses, Ferns, Mosses & Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland; Philips R. 1980 ). This area on the rocks is frequently visited by seagulls and cormorants so we would be swaying towards identifying this as the Xanthoria parientina. It will take some chemical and chromatography analysis to identify these definitively. This will be part of the longitudinal study of this region for 2009/10, with samples taken in Summer 2009.

Macro photo of yellow lichen.on quartz

Macro photo of Crottle lichen.