A STUDY OF DISTRIBUTION OF LICHEN BIODIVERSITY FROM BIOPROSPECTION

Formed by the symbiotic relationship of representatives of as many as three kingdoms—fungiand a protista or a monera—lichens are a distinct class of perennial cryptogamic creatures.Theophrastus, the "father of botany," used the name "lichen" in 300 B.C. to describe the thinlayer of lichens that forms on the outer layer of olive tree bark. When first characterized, lichenswere classified with other algae and mosses based on their outward appearance. On the otherhand, de Tournefort (1700) classified "lichens" as a distinct genus within the plant kingdom. ErikAcharius, the "father of lichenology," invented various words based on the unusual structures oflichens, and he classified many new genera and species based on exterior morphology in hisenormous works. After the invention of the microscope, the dualistic theory of lichens wasdiscovered, and since then, other definitions have been developed for use in modern writings.Until the publication of "Introductory Mycology," lichens were understood to be any relationshipbetween a fungus and an alga in which the two organisms were so entangled as to form a singlethallus. Nevertheless, lichens were properly characterized by Kirk et al. (2001) as an ecologicallyobligatory, persistent mutualism between an exhabitant fungal partner and a resident populationof extracellularly situated unicellular or filamentous algal or cyanobacterial cells.