Lichens Indicate Air Pollution

Two separate areas of the city - a busy main street and a not busy residential area - were observed. Both street pictures were taken three days after a major snow event and the pollution is observable in the snow on the side of the road. The videos were taken one day after another snow event from the other side of the same road. The other pictures are of the same landscaping brick installed the same year both facing south. These illustrate the lichens that are growing. Lichens are indicators of air quality and you can see from the picture there is a greater variety of the lichens on the not busy residential street.

Why are there different things growing on the landscaping bricks in different locations?

What do the amount of cars have to do with the snow quality and what’s growing on the bricks?

Students could:

• Individually record their observations/descriptions of the lichens while watching the video.
• Develop a claim that lichens are in a mutualistic relationship between a fungus and an alga and then support the claim with evidence and scientific reasoning.
• Use the air quality map to examine air quality in their area.
• Observe lichen in different parts of their town.
• Develop a claim about how changing environmental conditions may result in (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.
• Conduct a diversity index calculation on the lichens observed in each area.

• Teacher Created Slides from Video: These are the slides used in the video at the top of this page.
• National Park Service | Lichens as Bioindicators:Article about lichens as pollution indicators.
• Air Pollution in Iowa: Real time air quality reports worldwide with the capabilities of zooming in to different locations within the same city.
• US Forest Service | Lichen Collection and Identification: Developed by federal land management agencies, this site provides information on how to monitor lichens in your area.