Impact Type: Direct exposure to pollutant
Key Concerns:
Lobaria spp., as with other lichen species, are affected by SO2 (Hawksworth & Rose 1970a). Each species within the Lobarion may have a critical level at which point its population will begin to decline (Farmer et al. 1991a). See also Sulphur dioxide / Lichens(general)
Additional Comments:
Also sensitive to acid deposition.
Impact Type: Direct exposure to pollutant
Key Concerns:
It has long been known that SO2 has an effect on lichen growth, maps using the decline of lichens as a system for the measuring SO2 levels were available before the First World War (Dudley & Stolton 1996).
Impact Type: Direct exposure to pollutant
Key Concerns:
Work by Caporn et al. (2000) has shown that exposure of Calluna to elevated SO2 and NO2 throughout the growing season, may lead to an increase in both root and shoot growth. However they found that this was offset by an increased risk of damage by frost and an imbalance in root/shoot growth, which make the plants more vulnerable to water stress. No work appears to have been published as to the separate effects of these two pollutant gases on Calluna.
Impact Type: Direct exposure to pollutant
Key Concerns:
Antitrichia curtipendula has been eliminated from much England and Southern Scotland, this is almost certainly due to SO2 (Adams & Preston 1992 , Fowler et al. 2001, Hill et al. 1994, Mulgrew & Williams 2000, Weibull 2000).
Additional Comments:
None
Impact Type: Direct exposure to pollutant
Key Concerns:
Studies by Lawrence & Ashenden (1993) have shown that direct exposure to SO2 (exposure to 104 µg/m3 SO2) may affect the growth and reproduction of fern species. However it should be noted that such cases only now occur in Britain in the immediate vicinity of major sources.
Additional Comments:
There is a lack of information on the relative sensitivity of different fern species.
Impact Type: Deposition of pollutant
Key Concerns:
The land snail Balea perversa lives mostly on trees and walls where it mostly grazes on lichens. Work by Holyoak (1987) has show that Balea perversa is absent from areas of high SO2 pollution.
Additional Comments:
None
Impact Type: Direct exposure to pollutant
Key Concerns:
A number of sudies (Dohmen et al. 1984, Mansfield & Freer-Smith 1981) have shown that plants that had been fumigated with SO2 and NO2 were more prone to aphid attack, and that aphid productivity was higher as a result of changes in the amino acid composition of the plants.
Impact Type: Direct exposure to pollutant
Key Concerns:
Bacidia incompta severely affected by air pollution, as with so many lichen Spp. It is sensitive to SO2 (Biodiversity Steering Group 1995, Seaward & Hitch 1982).
Additional Comments:
There is no other literature available on this species.
Impact Type: Direct exposure to pollutant
Relatively little information is available on exposure effects.
Key concerns are:
Impact Type: Direct exposure to pollutant
There is no published experimental data on the impacts of SO2 on montane heaths and scrubs. This habitat type is unlikely to occur in areas which experience levels of SO2 above the critical level. However, they may be exposed to acid deposition above the critical load see Acid deposition::Montane habitats record.
