Lichens are not plants or animals! They are organisms formed from the symbiotic association of certain fungi with certain green algae. The algae photosynthesise whilst the fungi absorbs water and acts as a structure for the algae. Lichen can be a variety of colours ranging from pale bluish-green to yellow and white. They can be crusty or sometimes spongy in appearance.
Lichen grows on tree trunks and can be found on leaf litter and stems of plants in the woodland. Lichens are good indicators of pollution as they are common where air is clean but certain types can tolerate pollution in cities and other urban areas.
Lichen is slow growing and extremely tolerant of drought conditions. They do not have roots and do not need continuous supplies of water, thus they can grow in locations impossible for most plants, such as bare rock, sand, walls, roofs and monuments.
Producer - Lichens must compete with plants for access to sunlight.
The change from broadleaved woodland to coniferous woodland has affected the number and type of species found in the New Forest. There has also been a decline in traditional coppicing in recent years. Coppicing created open glades which attracted a rich diversity of species. As these glades decline in numbers so does the diversity of animals, plants and lichens living within the woodland.