DOES THE LICHEN ALGA TREBOUXIA OCCUR FREE-LIVING IN NATURE - FURTHER IMMUNOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

Morphological and immunological methods have revealed free-living Treb ouxia cells among the first settlers in an area that has been complete ly sterilized by a forest fire. These cells could be detected three ye ars after the fire, and before any Lichen colony had been established. We provide evidence that these free-living Trebouxia cells are identi cal by morphological and immunological criteria with the photobiont of Xanthoria parietina and of Buellia sp. that developed in another area of the same region which was exposed to a forest fire four years earl ier. It appeared that the X. parietina colony examined contained two ( or more) different Trebouxias.