Overview
- Published November 3 in Current Biology, the research was led by Dr. Brian Pickles of the University of Reading with collaborators including the Royal Tyrrell Museum and the University of Lethbridge.
- Two orange lichens, Rusavskia elegans and Xanthomendoza trachyphylla, covered up to roughly 50% of exposed bone but less than 1% of surrounding rock.
- The lichens exhibit lower reflectance in blue wavelengths and higher reflectance in infrared, producing spectral signatures that enable remote identification.
- Remotely piloted drones identified lichen-colonized fossils from 2.5 cm–per–pixel images captured about 30 meters above ground in the Canadian Badlands.
- Researchers say the workflow could reduce field costs and disturbance in suitable semi-arid settings and is being developed for wider surveys using aircraft and, eventually, satellites.