Thanks for sharing this important piece of information tanay On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 1:02 AM, prasad dash <[email protected]>wrote:
> Dear all keeping in view of the ongoing climatic variation, it is very > demanding to study the lichen distribution as they are the key bioindicators > in an ecosystem. The lichens are very less tolerant to pollution load and > immediately they respond to any kind of stress by their presence and > absence. The crustose lichens tolerate the maximum pollution load where as > both foliose and fructicose lichens do the least. As Lichen diversity is > maximum in Sal tree (Shorea robusta) which harbours almoast 64 species > followed by Mango (Mangifera indica) and Sindur (Mallotus philipensis) and > these are very common tree in almost all part of India, one can easily > observe the type of epiphytic lichens growing there to study the dynamics of > pollution load in their respective local ambience by the presence/absence > and appearance/vanishing of lichens without any chemical analysis. > Elimination of large number of lichen species in an area is an indicator of > growing environmental pollution, as lichen cannot tolerate the acidic gases. > Thus in areas with high acidic gases, a few resistant species will occur. > The pollution-tolerant species exhibit aggressive behaviour spreading > rapidly, covering a variety of substrates. I have collected 45 species of > lichens from different parts of Orissa as epiphytes on Sal tree which are > varrying in their diversity and distribution. Thus the number and > distribution of lichen species on Shorea robusta can be utilized as > indicator species for carrying out rapid future biomonitoring studies in the > area. > Regards > > Prasad > -- > Prasad Kumar Dash > Ecologist, Orissa, India > email: [email protected] > ph. 09437444241 > -- *Tanay Bose* Research Assistant & Teaching Assistant. Department of Botany. University of British Columbia . 3529-6270 University Blvd. Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4 (Canada) Phone: 778-323-4036 (Mobile) 604-822-2019 (Lab) 604-822-6089 (Fax) [email protected] *Webpages:* http://www.botany.ubc.ca/people/mberbee.html http://www.botany.ubc.ca/people/gradstud.html https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/
