Field Guide to Urban Lichens Attracts National Media Interest

A new book co-authored by Jessica Allen, the EWU assistant professor of biology whose research on lichens was recently awarded more than $625,000 by the National Science Foundation, was featured in the New York Times on Wednesday, Nov. 3.

The book, Urban Lichens: A Field Guide for Northeastern North Americawritten by Allen and her long-time research collaborator James Lendemer, an associate curator at the New York Botanical Garden, was published earlier this month by Yale University Press.

It has been widely embraced as an “invaluable resource” by experts and enthusiasts around the country.

“It’s hard not to like a lichen,” wrote Eric W. Sanderson, author of Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City. “They are paragons of cooperation, agents of erosion, and bellwethers of ecosystem health. And it’s hard not to like this book by Jessica Allen and James Lendemer, which, with good grace and deep knowledge, introduces these Eric W. Sanderson, author of Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City hiding in plain sight. Take a moment to say hello. You’ll be glad you did.”

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