Weekend van de Wetenschap: Miniatuurecosystemen van korstmossen door Ingeborg Klarenberg

Lichens may be inconspicuous, but you find them everywhere: on tree bark, roof tiles, and rocks. They grow slowly, require little, and can survive in places where almost nothing else grows. That is why they are also common in the polar regions, where scientist Ingeborg Klarenberg studied them. But what exactly are lichens? The answer is more surprising than you might think. During this family lecture, you will discover that all kinds of other species live between and on mosses and lichens, such as mites, springtails, bacteria, and fungi. In Iceland, Ingeborg investigated how climate change affects life in and around mosses and lichens. In Antarctica, she looked at how these small organisms provide food, shelter, and living space to countless other species. In places where almost no plants can grow, they form the basis of a surprisingly rich world full of life: a kind of miniature forest. Time and again, the question arises as to what a lichen actually is: not an individual, but a community of fungi, algae, and bacteria, and the basis for even more life. This raises a broader question about what individuality actually means, even when it concerns ourselves. This lecture is linked to the exhibition Complex Individuality, lichens by Suzette Bousema and Ingeborg Klarenberg.