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| The Book | Lichen Biology and the Environment | Lichens and Wildlife | Lichens and People | Useful Links |
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| The Book | Lichen Biology and the Environment | Lichens and Wildlife | Lichens and People | Useful Links |
This website grew out of the activities of Sylvia and Stephen Sharnoff, who did the photographic fieldwork for the book Lichens of North America, by Irwin M.Brodo and the Sharnoffs, published in November, 2001 by Yale University Press. For more information about the book, please go to The Book. For a brief introduction to lichen biology and how lichens interact with the greater environment, go to Lichen Biology and the Environment . Information about lichens and wildlife, including invertebrates, can be found at Lichens and Wildlife. For a description of how people have made use of lichens, including an extensive bibliographical database, click on Lichens and People. Check out the Useful Links page for many useful connections to this project and to the world of lichens. Except where noted, all photographs are copyright Sylvia/Stephen Sharnoff.
For photos of lichens see:
Lichen Species List
I have photos of over 1,400 different species of lichens. To see a complete list of them, go to Species List. I also have numerous photos of lichen mixtures, lichens from a distance in the landscape, lichens as used by animals and people, lichen anatomy and other lichen-related topics. If you wish to use any of these photos, please email me at lichen@idiom.com.
"Are you taking pictures of lichens?" Nose to the ground, I was examining my photo subject with a magnifier, my complicated-looking camera and flashes next to me. I was startled. In more than 20 years (sometimes sporadic, sometimes obsessive) of this odd behavior, this was only the second passer-by to mention lichens--Sylvia Sharnoff
Lichens are the most overlooked of the conspicuous organisms in the natural landscape. The eye often cannot see what the mind does not already know.
Letharia vulpina and Letharia columbiana
(click for close-ups) on a juniper tree in Yosemite National Park.
It is estimated
that lichens are the dominant vegetation on 8% of the earth's
terrestrial surface. Lichens form vast continuous mats in the
northern boreal forest (click
for photo).
Cladina evansii (click for close-up) and species of Cladonia on sandy soil in Florida.
See the article in the February, 1997, National Geographic Magazine.
Sylvia Sharnoff lost her struggle with cancer on December 31, 1998. Few things pleased her more than to know that, because of her efforts, someone had begun to notice and appreciate lichens. She was an intensely creative and loving person, an artist in many media, and a serious researcher, as well as a loving wife and mother. She is deeply missed.
For a summary of the Sharnoffs' photographic publications see Sylvia Duran Sharnoff and Stephen Sharnoff
You can contact Stephen Sharnoff at lichen@idiom.com or go to his website of photographs on a variety of subjects at sharnoffphotos.com or to his Sierra Plants Project site at sierraplants.com
You can email Dr. Irwin M. Brodo at ibrodo@mus-nature.ca
Go to Lichen Sampler
Go to Lichen Portrait Gallery
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