📜 EwA Week Highlights: Welcoming the Lichens of 2025

[Mike McGlathery]

EwA Highlights January 5, 2025 Hello everyone,  Happy 2025! Thanks for reading the January 5th EwA highlights. 📸 As the year turns and we reach the depths of winter, EwA’s naturalists have turned to a group of hardy organisms you can find crusting the landscape year-round: lichens. Eight of EwA’s ten most observed species this week were lichens, with the British soldier lichen (Cladonia cristatella) pictured here among them. This is a good example of a fruticose lichen - one with a branched or “shrubby” growth habit. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Bill MacIndewar · Medford, MA · Jan. 3, 2025)  As we descend deeper into winter, animals tend to become less well-represented in EwA’s observations (this of course depends on a variety of factors including naturalist habits, as we’ve discussed in the highlights before). This week, just a bit more than a sixth of EwA’s observations were of animals. There are still lots of cool animals to see, such as this red fox (Vulpes vulpes) observed by Jennifer. EwA iNaturalist Record (© jennifer_clifford · Barnstable, MA · Dec. 31, 2024)  Bordering on two-thirds of EwA’s observations on iNat this week were of fungi, many of them lichens. The most observed species overall was the bumpy rim-lichen (Lecanora hybocarpa). In this photo from Claire, you can clearly see the lichen’s cup-like spore-producing surfaces called apothecia. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Claire O’Neill · Provincetown, MA · Dec. 31, 2024)  📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this week, totaling 593 observations of 252 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 222,790 observations of 12,152 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