Spatial and temporal changes in the concentration of K, Na, Mg and Ca in epilithic and in decomposing detached thalli of the lichen Ramalina maciformis and its potential role in the cycling of these elements in the Negev Desert

Lichens and Particulate Matter: Inter-relations and Biomonitoring with Lichens

“…Epilithic lichens located on substrates near the ground are also subject to soil particles to a great extent. This was the case for the epilithic desert lichen Ramalina maciformis growing on flintstones in the Negev Desert, Israel, and found to contain large amounts of mineral elements deriving partly from local soil (Garty 1985;Garty et al 1995Garty et al , 1996bGarty et al , 2002bGarty et al , c, 2007. Its transfer and relocation was done with its substrate and its new location in polluted sites was on the ground.…”

“…Studies in this category should be classified as follows: 1. Descriptive studies of the elemental content of lichens, soil, and additional media performed to indicate the general status of the environment or to establish a set of markers on a local or regional scale: several studies in this category compared the elemental content of both soil and lichens (Garty 1985;Bargagli 1990a;Garty et al 1995Garty et al , 1996bDillman 1996;Loppi 1997;Rizzio et al 2001;Bačkor and Fahselt 2004;Bargagli et al 2007;Leonardo et al 2011;Grangeon et al 2012); these studies showed mostly a high level of coincidence. Chemical analyses of both soil and the epiphytic foliose lichen X. parietina sampled in Luxemburg (Hissler et al 2008) determined fractionated ratios of Sm/Nd as a function of distance from a steelworks.…”

“…Low CVs were assumed to indicate a low variation due to an even suspension of metal particles. CVs were further applied to assess the size of deposited/entrapped particles (Garty 1985, Garty andAmmann 1987;Loppi et al 1994Loppi et al , 1997aGarty et al 1995Garty et al , 1996bGarty et al , 1997aGarty et al , b, 1998aCarreras and Pignata 2002;Purvis et al 2004). In a study, biomonitoring airborne heavy metals along a major road in Accra, Ghana, the CV values calculated for lichens (Parmelia sp.)…”

“…Thus, the status of entrapped elements such as Al, Si, Ti, and Fe as markers of soilderived particulate matter was further established. The CV obtained for a different Ramalina species, R. maciformis, collected in an unpolluted site in the Negev Desert, was 0.10 for K (Garty et al 1996b), whereas Fe and Mn attained a CV of 0.17 and 0.24, respectively (Garty et al 1995). A low CV for K (0.08) was obtained also in the epiphytic fructicose lichen Protousnea magellanica in a pristine, unpolluted area in Northern Patagonia, in the Argentine Andean Mountains, whereas the CVs obtained for Al, Mn, Ti, and Fe were 0.33, 0.79, 026, and 0.35, respectively.…”

Changes in the potential quantum yield of photosystem II and the integrity of cell membranes relative to the elemental content of the epilithic desert lichen Ramalina maciformis

“…These studies emphasized the role of in situ lichens as biomonitors of airborne elements, including heavy metals in arid and semi arid environments. A few studies have dealt with physiological change among in situ lichens growing in arid and semiarid ecosystems [8], related in some cases to the elemental content of the thallus [9,10]. However, to the best of our knowledge, very little, if any, research has correlated statistically the physiological change with the elemental content in lichens of such ecosystems.…”