The application of lichens as ecological surrogates of air pollution in the subtropics: a case study in South Brazil

Abstract

The use of lichens as ecological surrogates has been an important tool to evaluate the impact of air pollution in both ecosystem and human health but remains underused in the subtropics due to lack of knowledge. Aiming to support the application of lichen as ecological surrogates of the effects of air pollution in the subtropics, we hypothesized that urbanization was an important driver of changes on lichen diversity, composition, and vitality. For that, we quantified several lichen diversity metrics (richness, cover, and community composition) and photobiont vitality in relation to atmospheric pollution or its surrogates (modeled pollutant gases, pollutants in lichen thallus, and land cover). We confirmed that air pollution was a key driver for lichen diversity. Changes in lichen community composition and vitality were very significantly related to air pollution and integrated the effect of multiple stressors (particulate matter, NOx, and Cu), thus being powerful ecological indicators of air pollution in the subtropics.

Lichen Responses to Disturbance: Clues for Biomonitoring Land-use Effects on Riparian Andean Ecosystems

“…In temperate ecosystems, most of the research has been focused on assessing the effects of different land uses on taxonomic and functional diversity of lichens [5,20,26,27]. Whereas in the tropics, studies have been restricted to determine the effects of disturbance and atmospheric pollution on lichen diversity [21,25,33,34]. This research is the first in Ecuador to quantify the response of taxonomic diversity and functional traits of epiphytic lichens to different land-use intensities along the riparian ecosystems of southern Andean streams.…”

Metal Accumulation in Lichens as a Tool for Assessing Atmospheric Contamination in a Natural Park

“…In Thailand, it is found in cool, humid, moderate-high light intensity and relatively unpolluted areas (e.g., mountain areas). Its potential to be used as a bioindicator/biomonitoring species of air quality has been tested and confirmed by several scientists (Boonpeng et al, 2018;Koch et al, 2016;Port et al, 2018). In Thailand, it was used as a biomonitor of atmospheric deposition for assessing air quality in the Map Ta Phut petrochemical complex (Boonpeng et al, 2017a;Boonpeng et al, 2017b;Boonpeng et al, 2018).…”

“…In Thailand, it was used as a biomonitor of atmospheric deposition for assessing air quality in the Map Ta Phut petrochemical complex (Boonpeng et al, 2017a;Boonpeng et al, 2017b;Boonpeng et al, 2018). In Brazil, it was used as a bioaccumulator of atmospheric pollutants in urban and forested areas in the Rio Grande do Sul (Koch et al, 2016;Port et al, 2018), and in the urban area of the Porto Alegre (Käffer et al, 2012). It was also used to monitor radionuclides around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Tsukuba city, Japan (Ohmura et al, 2015).…”

Comunidade de liquens corticícolas em um gradiente de urbanização na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio dos Sinos, no sul do Brasil

“…A urbanização altera o ambiente natural, provocando impactos ambientais como mudanças climáticas, poluição atmosférica e perda da biodiversidade (McKinney 2006;Lättman et al 2014;Munzi et al 2014). Estudos têm demonstrado alteração na composição e diminuição gradual da riqueza de espécies de epífitos vasculares (Becker et al 2017), de besouros (Niemelä & Kotze 2009), de aves (Gagne & Fahrig 2011) e de liquens (Washburn & Culley 2006;Koch et al 2016) no sentido área rural-urbana.…”

“…Em área urbana no Rio Grande do Sul, Käffer et al (2011) avaliaram a comunidade de liquens em 33 bairros da cidade de Porto Alegre e uma área de referência na cidade de Viamão, encontrando 144 táxons e vários novos registros de espécies para o estado. Koch et al (2016) estudaram a comunidade de liquens em sete municípios com diferentes graus de urbanização e industrialização, registrando 225 espécies de liquens, das quais a riqueza por unidade amostral foi de 42 espécies em Montenegro, e a mínima, em Triunfo, de oito espécies.…”