Because of its ability to not only endure but to thrive in one of the Earth's coldest, harshest environments, Buellia frigida has been used as a model organism in astrobiology research.

This lichen has been exposed to conditions simulating those encountered in space and on celestial bodies like Mars, including vacuum, ultraviolet radiation, and extreme dryness.

B. frigida has demonstrated resilience to these space-related stressors, making it a candidate for studying how life can adapt to and potentially survive in the extreme environments found beyond Earth.

The diagnosis of the lichen was as follows (translated from Latin[note 1]): Thick crust, brownish-gray, continuous or more often discontinuous, forming small spots, fissured and broken, often somewhat tubercular-granulous, with a darker and distinct margin, and a separate hypothallus; apothecia black, initially immersed in the thallus, marginate, later emerging, unmarginate, flat or convex, 0.5–1.0 mm wide; epithecium black or occasionally (in the same specimen) decolourised; hypothecium darkening to brownish or occasionally decolourised or carbonaceous; apothecia occasionally containing gonidia in an amphithecium (similar to Rinodina species), but when mature, always without an amphithecium; spores eight, brown, bicellular, 0.009–0.015 mm.

[5] In her 1968 monograph on Antarctic lichens, Elke Mackenzie supported Darbishire's placement in Buellia, largely because of the lecideine structure of the mature apothecia, wherein the disc lacks a thalline margin.

[8] Beneath the medulla, there is a basal layer, approximately 15 μm thick, of compact dark brown cells that elongate upward and merge with the medullary hyphae.

[8] The lichen, however, does create pycnidia that originate from under the algal layer, appearing ampulliform (with a rounded or bulbous form with a narrower portion or neck) to irregular and reaching sizes of up to 300 μm in diameter.

This adaptation allows B. subfrigida to grow in habitats that are seasonally inundated with water, a niche where B. frigida, despite its wide ecological amplitude (the limits of environmental conditions within which an organism can live and function), is rarely observed.

Near Syowa Station, a small community of Buellia frigida and Rhizocarpon flavum grows on slopes without nesting colonies of petrels and other birds.

The nitrogen-enriched areas beneath bird nests have a more diverse lichen community, which, in addition to B. frigida, includes species from the genera Caloplaca, Umbilicaria, and Xanthoria.

[9] Despite genetic evidence suggesting limited dispersal capabilities, B. frigida shows remarkable symbiotic flexibility, being able to associate with up to 13 different photobionts – one of the highest numbers recorded among Antarctic lichens.

[4] It is most abundant in Victoria Land's dry valley region and higher elevations above 600 m (2,000 ft), known for cloud cover and summer snow.

Above this height, the long periods of exposure to −60 to −70 °C (−76 to −94 °F) winter temperatures and the lack of insulating snow cover on windblown rock faces is too harsh to support lichen life.

These communities can consist of B. frigida alone or occur with other saxicolous lichens such as Lecidea cancriformis, Acarospora gwynnii, Carbonea vorticosa, Pseudephebe minuscula, Physcia caesia, and Lecidella siplei.

Collections of Buellia frigida are typically made in coastal areas, and its inland range in the continent's interior remains unknown.

Buellia frigida's maximum NAR occurs at 10 °C (50 °F) with full thallus hydratation, showing its photosynthetic efficiency in polar ecosystems.

When dry, the thallus shrinks, increasing the density of its pigmentation and shielding itself from light; this effect is most prevalent in the marginal areas, which contain the most algae.

This adaptability enables its survival in this region, where it is exposed to fluctuating moisture levels due to drying cycles of meltwater-soaked thalli.

At Cape Geology, southern Victoria Land, it primarily relies on meltwater from snowpack and occasional snowfalls for moisture in early summer.

[24] In the McMurdo Dry Valleys, the lichen growth rates varied across different sites, indicating responses to regional climate changes, including alterations in snowfall patterns.

[26] At radial growth rates of 0.0036 mm per year—about the thickness of an individual fungal hypha—some thalli are estimated to be at least 6,500 years old, dating back to the end of the Stone Age.

[27][28] Studies on the population genetics of Buellia frigida indicate limited dispersal among regions in Antarctica, likely influenced by prevailing wind patterns and physical barriers such as glaciers.

The most common genotype of B. frigida there matched specimens from Mawson Station, showing low genetic diversity across this large Antarctic region.

B. frigida resists non-terrestrial abiotic factors, including space exposure, hypervelocity impacts, and Mars-simulated conditions, which helps explain the biological responses to extreme environments.

These tests reveal that B. frigida maintains high post-exposure viability and sustains minimal damage to its photosynthetic capacity under these conditions.

[31] This resilience stems from protective mechanisms including morphological traits, secondary compounds, and anhydrobiosis during desiccation, features that also enable other extremotolerant lichens to survive.

These experiments showed high mortality rates for both algal and fungal symbionts of B. frigida under similar low Earth orbit conditions, suggesting reduced survival potential in extreme extraterrestrial environments, questioning whether Mars could support this lichen.