scholarly journals Relationship between lichen diversity and air quality in urban region in Bourdj Bou Arriridj, Algeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Messaoud Ramdani ◽  
Fatima Adjiri ◽  
Takia Lograda

Abstract. Fatima A, Messaoud R, Takia L. 2019. Relationship between lichen diversity and air quality in urban region in Bourdj Bou Arriridj, Algeria. Biodiversitas 20: 2329-2339. The lichenic biodiversity can be an excellent instrument for measuring air quality biomonitoring in urban and industrial areas. Two bio-monitoring techniques were used to assess and map the levels of air quality in Bordj Bou Arreridj region (BBA), an urban area located in Eastern Algeria, and to identify species sensitive to air pollution. The first one was based on the diversity and abundance of epiphytic lichens, while the other technique was using two bio-indication indices. Epiphytic lichens were sampled from thirty-four stations chosen on the basis of the presence of suitable phorophytes on which it is possible to observe lichens. The assessment of lichen biodiversity was based on the calculation of lichenic abundance indices (LA) and the Shannon index (H'). For the determination of the different levels of air pollution, the indices of atmospheric purity (IAP) and lichen diversity (LDV) were used. There were 62 identified species belong to 19 families and 31 genera of lichens, among which crustacean and foliose thalli were the most common in the region. Lichen biodiversity decreased as the sampled location approaching industrial sources and road traffic. The IAP ranged from 16.19-79.82 and LDV values ranged from 12.50-52.16. The results showed a significant relationship between lichen diversity and air quality, and indicated low atmospheric pollution in the BBA region. This study allowed us to draw up a list of sensitive species and tolerant species to air pollution.

2014 ◽  
Vol 1030-1032 ◽  
pp. 287-291
Author(s):  
Waewdao Dathong ◽  
Nathawut Thanee ◽  
Wanaruk Saipunkaew ◽  
Murray A. Potter ◽  
Thanapan Thanee

This work aimed to investigate epiphytic lichens on mango trees (Mangifera indica L.) in the municipality habitats of the Northeast of Thailand based on the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure protocol and define the factors that influence their diversity. Ninety-one taxa were observed, 21 of them are macrolichens, 87 species found outside municipality and 70 species found inside municipality. The factors that most affected epiphytic lichen diversity were tree circumference, days of rainfall, bark pH, area surrounding and annual rainfall and negatively affected by population size, temperature, and distance from road. This work concluded that traffic density and human population size reduce air quality and influenced epiphytic diversity in the municipal habitats in the Northeast of Thailand, and lichens are bioindicators of air pollution in this region.


2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna LACKOVIČOVÁ ◽  
Anna GUTTOVÁ ◽  
Martin BAČKOR ◽  
Peter PIŠÚT ◽  
Ivan PIŠÚT

AbstractThe epiphytic lichen Evernia prunastri is sensitive to air pollution and reacted by total retreat to the worsening of air quality during the peak of SO2 pollution in Central Europe (1950s–1990). Since 1990, after a significant decrease in air pollution, epiphytic lichens recolonized previously polluted areas, including E. prunastri. We investigated the physiological status of E. prunastri, transplanted for six months in 34 sites in the urban area of Bratislava (Slovakia) under current conditions. The content of chlorophylls, cortical and medullar secondary metabolites and soluble proteins were explored. We then examined the relationship of these parameters with the environmental quality status, reflected by the diversity of epiphytic lichens. The results showed that the physiological status of E. prunastri did not change significantly after exposure. Positive correlations were found between lichen diversity in the sampling sites and physiological parameters (photosynthetic pigments and phaeophytinization quotient) in the transplants. Transplants from sampling sites with a greater proportion of nitrophilous lichens displayed a decrease in photosynthetic pigments. Sites where E. prunastri naturally occurred had a lower proportion of nitrophilous species in comparison to sites where E. prunastri was not present. This suggests that the indicator species E. prunastri may also recolonize sites with low eutrophication in urban environments under decreased air pollution, and the information on its presence can help to assess the pressure caused by nitrogen excess.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1581
Author(s):  
Piotr Holnicki ◽  
Zbigniew Nahorski ◽  
Andrzej Kałuszko

The main subject of this paper is an analysis of the influence of changes in the air pollution caused by road traffic, due to its modernization, on the air quality in Warsaw conurbation, Poland. Using the Calpuff model, simulations of the yearly averaged concentrations of NOx, CO, PM10, and PM2.5 were performed, together with an assessment of the population exposure to individual pollutions. Source apportionment analysis indicates that traffic is the main source of NOx and CO concentrations in the city atmosphere. Utilizing the Euro norms emission standards, a scenario of vehicle emission abatement is formulated based on the assumed general vehicle fleet modernization and transition to Euro 6 emission standards. Computer simulations show a reduction in NOx concentrations attributed to emission mitigation of passenger cars, trucks and vans, and public transport buses, respectively. On the other hand, improving air quality in terms of CO concentrations depends almost exclusively on gasoline vehicle modernization. The implementation of the considered scenario causes an adequate reduction in the population exposure and related health effects. In particular, implementation of the scenario discussed results in a 47% reduction (compared with the baseline value) in the attributable yearly deaths related to NOx pollution. In spite of a substantial contribution of vehicle traffic to the overall PM pollution, modernization of the fuel combustion causes only minor final effects because the dominant share of PM pollution in Warsaw originates from the municipal sector and the transboundary inflow.


1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. D. Seaward ◽  
M. A. Letrouit-Galinou

AbstractA recent survey of epiphytic lichens in the Jardin du Luxembourg has shown there to be a marked improvement in the air quality of Paris over the past decade. Recolonization by at least 11 lichen species has occurred during that period. It has taken almost 100 years for epiphytic lichens to re-establish in the Jardin du Luxembourg, where William Nylander in the 1890s was able to amply confirm his far reaching hypothesis, made 30 years earlier, on the direct relationship between lichen survival and air pollution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 3542
Author(s):  
Gerrit de Leeuw ◽  
Ronald van der A ◽  
Jianhui Bai ◽  
Yong Xue ◽  
Costas Varotsos ◽  
...  

The strong economic growth in China in recent decades, together with meteorological factors, has resulted in serious air pollution problems, in particular over large industrialized areas with high population density. To reduce the concentrations of pollutants, air pollution control policies have been successfully implemented, resulting in the gradual decrease of air pollution in China during the last decade, as evidenced from both satellite and ground-based measurements. The aims of the Dragon 4 project “Air quality over China” were the determination of trends in the concentrations of aerosols and trace gases, quantification of emissions using a top-down approach and gain a better understanding of the sources, transport and underlying processes contributing to air pollution. This was achieved through (a) satellite observations of trace gases and aerosols to study the temporal and spatial variability of air pollutants; (b) derivation of trace gas emissions from satellite observations to study sources of air pollution and improve air quality modeling; and (c) study effects of haze on air quality. In these studies, the satellite observations are complemented with ground-based observations and modeling.


2013 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 893-897 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.M. Stamenkovic ◽  
Svetlana Ristic ◽  
Tatjana Djekic ◽  
Tatjana Mitrovic ◽  
Rada Baosic

Air quality investigations have not been undertaken in Blace until now. Identifying the presence of different types of epiphytic lichens was performed in the summer 2012 in Blace (southeastern Serbia), and selected rural settlements around Blace, in order to establish the air quality of the area. The analysis of samples from described localities indicated the presence of 25 lichen taxa from 19 genera. Using the Index of Atmospheric Purity (IAP), it was found that there are 2 different air pollution zones in Blace: ?lichen desert? and ?transitional? or ?struggle zone?, which includes the periphery of the city. In these zones the air is moderately polluted. In the urban area of Blace there is no ?normal? zone, but one was detected in the surrounding rural areas.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueyuan Wang ◽  
Yuping Wang ◽  
Zhijian Zhang ◽  
Jingwei Li

Abstract Many cities in China have invested the city’s rail transit system to reduce urban air pollution and traffic congestion. Earlier studies rarely compare the effects of rail transit on urban air quality in different cities, providing little guidance to urban planners in solving traffic congestion and air quality. By using the rail transit lines in Chengdu and Nanchang as case studies, this paper attempts to examine the effect of rail transit on air pollution. Data were collected from 18 monitoring stations distributed along the chosen rail transit lines in both cities during the period 2014 to 2016 and analyzed using the regression discontinuity design to address the potential endogenous location of subway stations. The results show that subway opening in Nanchang has a better reductions from automobile exhaust than that in Chengdu, specifically, carbon monoxide pollution, one key tailpipe pollutant, experienced a 10.23% greater reduction after Nanchang Metro Line 1 opened. On the contrary, the point estimate for carbon monoxide in Chengdu is 22.42% and statistically significant at the 1% level. Nanchang Metro Line 1 does play an important role in road traffic externalities, but the benefit was not huge enough to change the overall air quality. On the contrary, the opening of the Chengdu Metro Line 4 is unlikely to yield improvements in air quality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 4177-4181

Air Quality is at a steady state of decline throughout the world. While the Indian government, in particular, has been deploying monitoring stations across multiple cities to not only monitor but also establish a cause and effect relationship when it comes to air pollution, these monitoring stations clearly, don’t suffice the actual demands for building a robust model for Air Quality Index. Our goal here is to reduce costs in terms of hardware deployment while, at the same time, provide a higher number of data points of collection on pre-existing infrastructure. The project aims at calculating the air pollution factors at the suburban level using Vehicular Emissions. The idea is to identify the number and type of vehicles from a video feed and then estimate the vehicular pollution levels using the data collected.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raslan Alenezi ◽  
Bader Al-anezi

In this study, hourly mean continuous air pollution data for the year 2010 from two monitoring stations in major urban districts in the State of Kuwait were analyzed. The ambient air quality in the Al-Mansouriah and Al-Jahra districts was evaluated in terms of the hourly average concentrations of selected major air pollutants during the winter and summer seasons. The diurnal variations of these pollutants were analyzed, and in-depth comparisons of the two pollutant concentrations for the two districts were conducted to determine the predominant sources of the air pollutants. The concentrations of CO, PM10 and NO2 in the two districts exhibited different patterns in the summer and winter due to differences in the activities that take place in the surrounding areas. The concentrations of SO2 were high in both cities because of the Al-Doha power plant and oil fields near the city in Al-Jahra. The ozone concentration is highly correlated with NOx emissions and is greater in the summer than in the winter. The results confirm that road traffic is a major source of air pollution in the Al-Mansouriah district. The Al-Doha power plant and the oil fields near Al-Jahra greatly affect the air quality in that district.


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