GRSM_ROCK_GNOME_LICHEN_RANGE

National Park Service - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The rock gnome lichen is one of two lichens in the United States protected by the Endangered Species Act. Lichens are two organisms, a fungus and alga or cyanobacterium that exist so closely in a symbiotic relationship they are functionally a single organism. The alga or cyanobacterium provides nutrients to the fungus and the fungus in turn provides a protected and secure environment for the alga or cyanobacterium to live. Rock gnome lichen is in the reindeer moss family, actually a family of lichens, not mosses. Rock gnome lichen grows in dense colonies of narrow strap-like lobes that grade from black at the base to blue-gray on the upper surface and white on the lower surface. The rock gnome lichen was placed on the federal threatened and endangered species list, as endangered, in 1995, when there were 32 known populations, all in North Carolina or Tennessee. That number has steadily increased as new populations have been discovered, and today there are 68, 62 of which are in conversation ownership. Being in conservation ownership protects the habitat from development, but the lichen still faces impacts from climate change , outdoor recreation, collection, and habitat degradation from the balsam woolly adelgid. The species historical range included North Carolina, Tennessee. See below for information about where the species is known or believed to occur. These data were downloaded and republished from US Fish & Wildlife's Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS).