Far above the arctic circle and far north of Alaska,
some of the world's oldest living things survive on a
high, remote, barren pass under extremely hostile
conditions. Their ancestors are twice as old as the
dinosaurs, and maybe much older. Some of the individuals
living today are 8600 years old.
These are lichens - an extraordinary living thing that is
not animal, not plant, not fungus, but a distinct
mutualistic organism that is a mix of tiny plant-like
photosynthesis engines and fungi. Experiments in
outer space show some of the twenty thousand species
of lichen can survive there for over a year exposed to the
sun, cold, vacuum and cosmic rays, and continue to grow
when returned to a friendly environment. Researchers
believe they can live on Mars.
Best of all, reindeer need lichens to eat in the winter,
so they can survive fierce arctic winters (and be healthy
for Santa's deliveries).
Some lichens are very sensitive to air pollution and have
been use to test air pollution for over 150 years.
The exact place where I took these photos is confidential
to help protect this region of diverse lichens, but I was
worried that their greatest danger is in the air.
From the cold and windy pass where I stood in northern
Norway, I could see heavy smoke from some passing ships.
The lichens in these photos are mostly less than 1/16 inch
tall and the photos show a 2-3 inch square view.
There are various species, and are in varying life stages.
The unevenness of the glaciated rocks makes the close-up
photography in the arctic challenging (as does the wind
and rain).
I used a 20 Mega Pixel Canon SX620HS camera and Corel
Paintshop post-processing to select the in-focus portions
of larger images and minimally adjust clarity and
lighting.