Lichens are Pollution

Indicators
Made By:Adinath.K.Shibu
VII-H
The most common source of air pollution is
the combustion of fossil fuels. This usually
happens in vehicle engines and power stations.
Sulfur dioxide is released if the fuel contains sulfur
compounds. This gas contributes to acid rain.
Lichens can be used as air pollution indicators,
especially of the concentration of sulfur dioxide in
the atmosphere.

Lichens are plants that grow in exposed places

such as rocks or tree bark. They need to be very
good at absorbing water and nutrients to grow
 there. Rainwater contains just enough nutrients to
keep them alive. Air pollutants dissolved in
rainwater, especially sulfur dioxide, can damage
lichens, and prevent them from growing. This
makes lichens natural indicators of air pollution.
For example:
bushy lichens need really clean air
leafy lichens can survive a small amount of air
pollution
Crusty lichens can survive in more polluted air.
In places where no lichens are growing, it is often
a sign that the air is heavily polluted with sulfur
dioxide.

Lichens consist of fungal and algal parts, living in

symbiosis with each other. The fungus provides the main
body of the lichen while the alga provides a means to
manufacture food by the presence of chlorophyll. Both
organisms depend on each other and because two
organisms rely on conditions being good, they suffer
greatly if the air quality is poor. There are over 15000
species of lichen and the ones which grow on trees and
walls are very susceptible to atmospheric pollution-
especially sculpture dioxide in the air.
Different lichens will withstand different levels of sulfur
dioxide concentrations and a survey of lichen species
can establish the levels of atmospheric pollution in an
area.
In polluted areas, or in areas where pollution has
increased, the population of lichens of certain species
will decrease while those of others increase because
these can tolerate more pollution. So, botanists can use
lichen species as air quality indicators.
Another way in which lichens indicate air quality is to do
with global warming. There are more species in colder
parts of the world than in warmer parts and lichens
depend on cooler conditions for their survival. However,
with the increasingly warmer southern areas in the
northern temperate zones, the areas in which many
species of lichen thrive is shrinking.
Lichens reproduce by spores from the fungi and algal
cells and the two must meet in order for a new lichen of
the same species to grow. In some species, small parts
break off and are blown by the wind to establish new
colonies. However, for a short time in the reproductive
cycle the fungal spores andalgal spores are separate
and conditions must be right for each part in order to
meet and form a new lichen. If conditions change so
either of the parts cannot survive, no new lichen is
formed and it is this that is perhaps one of the greatest
impacts of a reduction of air quality.
It has been noticed that lichens need undisturbed, clean
conditions and there is a marked decrease in the
populations of lichen even in places they were once
dominant like on stone walls and in graveyards. Now,
only the sheltered sides of stones are lichen covered
because the other sides are open to the air currents and
pollutants carried with these.
Lichens are pioneers, often being the first organisms to
establish and begin the weathering of rock material and
so create conditions for higher plants to move in and
become established. Poor air quality, even in far flung
places of the earth, means this is no longer happening at
such a rate.