Relationship between epiphytic lichens, trace elements and gaseous atmospheric pollutants

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Ecology
• Bioindicator Studies

Background:

• Epiphytic lichens are sensitive to environmental changes.
• Gaseous atmospheric pollutants and trace elements can affect lichen health and distribution.
• Lichens are potential bioaccumulators for environmental monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the combined effects of atmospheric pollutants and trace elements on epiphytic lichens.
• To test the hypothesis that lichens are insensitive to toxic trace elements and can be used for their environmental estimation.
• To determine the relationship between lichen abundance and pollutant concentrations.

Main Methods:

• Field study conducted in The Netherlands.
• Estimation of epiphytic lichen species abundance.
• Collection of supporting bark for trace element analysis.
• Determination of atmospheric trace gas concentrations (SO2, NO2).
• Application of multivariate statistics to analyze species abundance and pollutant concentrations.

Main Results:

• Atmospheric sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were the primary factors influencing lichen biodiversity.
• Most lichen species exhibited sensitivity to SO2 and NO2.
• Trace elements, except for antimony (Sb), showed minimal negative impact on lichen abundance.

Conclusions:

• Lichens are highly sensitive to key gaseous air pollutants (SO2, NO2), affecting their biodiversity.
• Lichens can be reliably used as accumulator organisms for pollution studies, particularly for trace elements.
• The validity of using lichens as bioindicators depends on the correlation between lichen thalli concentrations and atmospheric concentrations.