After I got back from the Lichen workshop at Tremont, I was anxious to see what our trees had to offer in meiofauna. We had some of our Silver Maple trees trimmed (not topped!) recently, so there was a huge supply of lichens easily available. I soaked them in a jar of water overnight and looked at them the next day. I was surprised to find a Desmid (single-celled alga) in my collection water. Meiofauna are microscopic animals, protozoa, and algae that live in the sediment layer between the lichen and the tree bark. Unfortunately, I didn't find any Water Bears (Tardigrades) in my sample.