Reindeer Lichen
Reindeer lichen (Cladonia rangiferina) is a pale gray, branching lichen that carpets tundra and open boreal forests. It is a key winter food for reindeer and caribou, which dig it from beneath the snow.
Reindeer lichen (Cladonia rangiferina) is a pale gray, branching lichen that carpets tundra and open boreal forests. It is a key winter food for reindeer and caribou, which dig it from beneath the snow.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Reindeer Lichen in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Opisthokonta lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
Slow Growth: Why Is It So Vulnerable?
Reindeer lichen grows only a few millimeters a year and takes decades to recover from grazing or fire. Overgrazing, trampling and logging of old forests have reduced it in places. It also absorbs nutrients and pollutants from rain and air, so it is sensitive to air quality.
Chernobyl and Radiocesium
After the 1986 Chernobyl accident, radioactive cesium fell on Scandinavian lichens. It passed up the food chain to reindeer and to the Sámi herders who eat their meat, an example of how pollutants concentrate along food chains.
Chemistry
Cladonia lichens produce usnic acid and other compounds that deter grazers and microbes. They can survive extremes of cold and drying.
Reindeer Lichen at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Cladonia rangiferina |
| Kingdom | Fungi |
| Phylum | Ascomycota |
| Class | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order | Lecanorales |
| Family | Cladoniaceae |
| Field Guide group | Opisthokonta: Fungi (True Fungi & Lichens) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Extensively branched, hollow, coral-like grey-white fruticose podetia lacking a persistent primary squamulose crust, forming tundra carpets. |
| Growth | A few millimeters per year |
| Role | Winter food for caribou and reindeer |