welcome to moomoomath and science I recently went for a nice hike in the woods nestled among the trees the rocks the moss in the water is an often overlooked organism but an amazing organism and that is like it a lichen is a composite organism which is the result of algae or cyanobacteria living among the filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship if you recall sino bacteria is a type of bacteria that can obtain their energy through photosynthesis and they only they are the only prokaryotes to be able to do this lichen may act plant-like but lichen are not plants lichens may have tiny leafless branches they may have flat leaf-like structures that look like flakes or they may just appear like a powder like substance the algae or cyanobacteria help the fungi by producing carbon compounds that they use in return the fungi benefit the algae or cyanobacteria by protecting them from the environment and also to help gather moisture and provide an anchor lichens do not have roots and they do not need to tap into reservoirs of water like plants need to therefore they can grow in impossible places that plants can't such as bare rock sand you'll find them on monuments and acting like epiphytes on the side of trees lichens can also survive periods of extreme drought it is estimated that 6% of the Earth's land surface is covered by lichens lichens are long-lived and some consider them to be some of the oldest living organisms on earth when a disaster happens such as a volcano likened are the first pioneer species they will grow on bare rock or other places lichens may need to compete with plants for access to sunlight but because of their small size and slow growth they can thrive in places that plants have difficulty for so there we go some information about lichen if you'd like to know more about lichen or mutualistic relationships this playlist will help and as always thanks for watching and moomoomath uploads a new math and science video every day please subscribe