Research demonstrated that lichen found in the Mojave Desert survived for three months under levels of solar radiation previously considered lethal.
The common lichen, Clavascidium lacinulatum, was injured, but able to recover and replicate. The results show that photosynthetic life may be possible on planets exposed to intense solar radiation.
Desert lichen offers new evidence for the possibility of life on other planets
In 300 Years, Kim Stanley Robinson’s Science Fiction May Not Be Fiction
I read the first one many years ago. Strangely, one of the things I remember most about it was the use of lichens to begin the terraforming of Mars. Here we are now where that is more of a possibility than ever. Truth is stranger than fiction.