Is Lichen a parasite?

What's so interesting about lichen? Learn more on this Moment of Science. read more

Lichen is a composite organism. It’s composed of both a fungus and, depending on the lichen, an alga or a bacterium. Lichenology is a discipline in and of itself, but there aren’t all that many lichenologists, and so there are still a lot of unanswered questions concerning the relationship between the organisms making up lichen. read more

A lichen is not generally considered to be a parasite. A lichen is composed of two organisms in a symbiotic association. They are a fungus and a photosynthetic partner, usually either a green alga or a cyanobacterium. read more