1 - Ecologia Mediterranea

Loppi etai.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
In the Town of Montecatini Tenne, from 1993 lichens
have recovered, especially in the southern part
of the study area, where new thalli of different lichen
species were found and the lichen desert does not exist
anymore. This demonstrates that despite their slow
growth, lichens respond rather quickly to decreasing
air pollution, allowing this variation to he measured
even after a few years. As a consequence, lichen biomonitoring
is useful not only to detect the effects of
poor air quality, but to document air quality improvement
as weil. Nitrogen oxides seem to he the cause not
only for lichen decline, but also for epiphyte recolonization
following ameliorating conditions.
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ecologia mediterranea 23 (3/4) - 1997