Lichens as bio indicators of atmospheric pollution in Porto, Portugal

• Autor(a) principal: Freitas, Marisa
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Costa, Natália, Rodrigues, Matilde, Marques, Joana, Vieira Da Silva, Manuela
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/18826
• topic: Lichens; Bio indicators; Atmospheric pollution; Environmental health

The emission of air pollutants mainly from anthropogenic sources has led to the degradation of air quality. These pollutants determine the occurrence or worsening of respiratory disorders. Biomonitoring provides information on the quality of the environment or its modifications, having been used as an alternative to monitoring of chemical pollutants. The variation of the biodiversity of lichens can be used as a warning to check if other biological systems are being affected by atmospheric pollution. Lichens have been used as bioindicators, since they have differential sensitivity to air pollution. The purpose of this study was to assess the diversity and abundance of lichens in different zones of the Porto (North Portugal) with respect to the rates of atmospheric pollutants. Three zones were selected for sampling, represented by urban, suburban and rural zones. LDV was calculated for each zone. The average concentrations of CO, CO2, SO2, NO2, O3 and PM10 were also measured. The most sensitive lichens were present in the area with the highest LDV. In places where there were higher concentrations of pollutants, namely NO2 and SO2 a lower LDV. This study suggests that lichens can be used as prevention systems to protect public health, in particular diseases related to air pollution and as a potential alternative or complement to expensive chemical monitoring equipment.