| Summary: | The biology of the sub-aquatic lichen, Dermatocarpon luridum, was
investigated. This lichen is sparsely distributed within the temperate climatic
zones around the world, colonizing rock along watercourses that regularly
experience water level fluctuations. Specimens collected from Canada and
Austria were cultured using standard growth media. Brightfield microscopy was
used for algal species identification, while fungal ITS, algal ITS and algal actin
gene sequences were used for phylogenetic and population genetic evaluation.
Results were: 1) axenic cultures of the photobiont were successful, while those of
the mycobiont were not successful; 2) Diplosphaera chodatii is the photobiont
associated with D. luridum var. luridum and allies, suggesting algal sharing
between mycobiont species; 3) genetic diversity is high, and gene flow was high
within local populations, but low between continental populations. Diplosphaera
chodatii may be a keystone species contributing to the survival of D. luridum var. luridum along with other sub-aquatic, aquatic and terrestrial lichens.
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