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• In tropical lowland forests, corticolous crustose green algal lichens are abundant and highly diverse. This may be related to adaptation to prevailing microenvironmental conditions including, for example, high precipitation and low light intensities. • In the understory of a tropical lowland rain forest in French Guiana, we studied the morphology of crustose green algal lichens and measured gas exchange and chlorophyll a fluorescence. • We found that (i) periods of thallus suprasaturation with water were reduced by the presence of water-repelling surface structures of mycobiont hyphae at the thallus surface and the medulla; (ii) photosynthesis was adapted to the low light intensities present in the understory; and (iii) photosynthesis was rapidly activated in fluctuating light. • The combination of these three mechanisms enables corticolous lichens to implement specific morphological and physiological strategies, which may favour growth in the limiting understory habitat of tropical lowland rain forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]