📜 EwA Week Highlights: Lichens and No-Light Fireflies

[Mike McGlathery]

EwA Highlights December 14, 2024 Hello everyone!  Thanks for reading the December 14th EwA highlights. 📸 The cold months give us an opportunity to pay closer attention to the smaller organisms we might overlook in a lusher landscape. For instance, you might be surprised at the number of lichens you could observe just walking down your street. Lichens are complex symbiotic associations of fungi with a photosynthesizing microorganism, and their biology and evolutionary history is still being sketched out today. Claire observed this bumpy rim-lichen (Lecanora hybocarpa) in Stoneham on Friday. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Claire O’Neil · Stoneham, MA · Dec. 13, 2024)  Whether you can see it or not, many plants are already preparing for the spring. One of the most apparent plants to do so is the eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), which starts pushing up its initial growth in the winter. Its smelly bloom will be one of the first of the year, and it has a special adaptation to allow it to come up so early: the flower can create its own heat. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Bill MacIndewar · Medford, MA · Dec. 12, 2024)  EwA’s most observed species this week were American amber jelly fungus (Exidia crenata) and the winter firefly (Ellychnia corrusca), pictured here. The winter firefly is one of the most common arthropods to see active throughout winter in the Boston area. Even though it’s taxonomically a firefly (belonging to the family Lampyridae), these beetles don’t have light-emitting organs as adults and don’t attract mates with light. Instead, they use pheromones like many other insects. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Joe MacIndewar · Medford, MA · Dec. 8, 2024)  📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this week, totaling 373 observations of 244 distinct species. If you’re curious about the records from this week that have been validated by the iNat community so far, you can find them » here. 🏆 Running tally: To date, we have recorded 221,503 observations of 12,097 distinct species! Check out our EwA umbrella project, see the details per site/observer, and more » here. 📅 EwA Upcoming Public Events Ewa Field Events » Check the EwA Winter [ Event details and registration » ] Don’t miss some great opportunities to follow the rhythm of the season in our local habitats and in the local wildlife! Space is limited for all our field events. Wildlife ethics is important to us and we seek to avoid putting the pressure on natural habitats which large gatherings unavoidably do. We are asking our audience to register-and-commit (or cancel when you know you can’t come) to avoid no-shows. EwA Fieldwork (and Resources) It’s a great time to join our monitoring programs. Check EwA’s Volunteer Program Calendar 📅  to know when things happen. And if a session is of interest to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to get the rendezvous location. 📅 EwA Sites Map | 🌱 Site Protocols and Guides · Field Rosters · Field Notes » All here! | ℹ️ More about EwA’s Citizen Science Program » Here ❓ Do you have any questions? Don’t be shy. Just email me or reply to this thread.  That’s all for this week—hope you have a good one! -Mike