Lichens and air quality: a new citizen science approach
(1) University of Trieste, Italy; (2) Natural History Museum of Verona, Italy; (3) University of Brescia; (4) University of Siena, Italy; (5) NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy.
Since a first experience in the UK during the ’70 of the past century, Citizen Science (CS) approaches have been adopted also in the field of air quality monitoring, on the basis of indices of epiphytic lichen diversity. Since the identification of lichens in the field may often be quite difficult, especially to laypersons, in the framework of CS approaches volunteers were often involved adopting simplified sampling protocols, which usually require taxon identification at higher level than the species, or even the use of morpho-types, or thallus colors. Even with these simplifications, several studies demonstrated that the data produced with CS approaches were highly reliable and could be useful at least to define general patterns of lichen diversity, with the aim of addressing further finer investigation. A very simple CS approach has been developed for monitoring air quality through a streamlined index of epiphytic lichen diversity by involving school children. The protocol foresees the identification of monitoring stations of a 50-m radius, in which the trunks of 3 isolated trees, selected among a list of common species, are sampled, checking whether there are only crustose lichens or no lichens at all (score = 0), narrow-lobed lichens (score = 1), broad-lobed lichens (score = 2), or fruticose lichens (score = 3). The Municipality of Verona, which this year hosts the National Conference of the Italian Lichen Society, was selected as the test site. The outcome of this activity, as well as the major constraints faced in the involvement phase and during fieldwork, will be presented and discussed. The activity is supported by The Municipality of Verona and its Natural History Museum, the National Biodiversity Future Center, The Italian Botanical Society, The Italian Lichen Society, the Cariverona Fundation, the Italian WWF and the Italian Association for Citizen Science.
Keywords: growth form, monitoring, sampling protocol, volunteers
