Environmental Sciences, asked by Toushif8371, 1 year ago

How lichen can be an indicator species for pollution levels?

Answers

Answered by MaalavikaG
0
Lichens are similar to fungi and algae, and absorb water and minerals from the air to grow on living and nonliving surfaces.
As such, lichens absorb all the pollutants in the environment, and some varieties of lichen survive better in the presence of pollution than others.
The green and bushy lichen survive only in clean air, so the presence of these types of lichens in a given environment indicates that the air is clean. Hard and crusty lichens, however, can survive quite well in the presence of pollution, and so an abundance of these species of lichen may indicate that the air in the environment is polluted.
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