It is on the increase in the UK and the protected Atlantic oak woodlands of the west coast of Argyll, Scotland is an ideal location for lichen, liverworts and now Lyme disease. A warming climate is to blame as the culprits are ticks that now are not easily killed off in warmer winter weather.
Atlantic Oak Woodland
Mutualism
Lichen are a composite organism that arise from algae living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship as tree spirits or dryads in Greek mythology do with oak or other tree species. Lichen come in many forms - they may have tiny, leafless branches (fruticose); flat leaf-like structures (foliose); grow crust-like, adhering tightly to a surface (substrate) like a thick coat of paint (crustose. Lichens are good sounders of pollution free air and many thrive in the west coast Atlantic Oak woodlands of Scotland. This video poem was photographed and recorded at Taynish National Nature Reserve Argyll one of the finest examples of ancient Atlantic temperate rainforest oak woodlands in Europe 475 lichen species have been recorded at Taynish NNR, including 91 nationally scarce species.