Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 26 : Fall 2015 | Page 73

ground like tumbleweeds,” said Nelson.
The group mapped the basin with GPS
technology and took samples of the
“vagrant lichens” for genetic analysis.

In 2008, Chaitén Volcano erupted in southern Chile.
Lichenologist Peter nelson studied lichens in the region
four years after the eruption, and during his research trip
to study lichens in northern Chile, he also returned to the
volcano this year to take samples a second time. (Image
courtesy of Gerard Prins under a Creative Commons license)

Before returning to the far cooler and moist
climate of Northern Maine, Nelson’s team
also studied lichens near a volcano that
erupted in 2008. Nelson said he visited
Chaiten Volcano in southern Chile in
2012, four years after the eruption. He
made a second visit this year and sampled
the lichens again. “What we found was
that the lichen species have doubled since
we last checked.”
Nelson said he will probably return to
Chile in January of 2016.
In the mean time, he is also conducting
research into the relationship between
lichens and the recent catastrophic dieoff of caribou in Alaska and far northern
Canada.
FALL 2015

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