Abstract. Belguidoum A, Haichour R, Lograda T, Ramdani M. 2021. Biomonitoring of air pollution by lichen diversity in the urban area of Setif, Algeria. Biodiversitas 23: 970-981. The use of living organisms in air quality monitoring has received increasing attention in recent years. Lichens, pioneer and colonizing organisms, are directly sensitive to environmental changes. This results in a loss of vitality or complete destruction of the thallus. The objective of this study is to assess and map the air quality of the Setif region, Algeria by lichens, using bio-indication indices. For air quality assessment, lichen species frequency, the Shannon-Wiener index, Atmospheric Purity Index (IAP), and Air Quality Index (IAQ) were used. Sixty stations were sampled across the region, representing the various level of landscape factors and anthropogenic activities. The study recorded 54 lichen species in urban areas of Setif belonged to 29 genera and 19 families, of which crustose and foliose, were the most common in the region. The pollution indicators (IAP, IAQ) showed an important correlation between them and a difference between rural and urban ecosystems. Anthropized urban areas showed very high air pollution. This is probably due to industrial and agricultural activities, but especially to gas emissions from vehicles. The majority of studied stations belonged to an area with very high atmospheric pollution. In addition, the presence of the species Xanthoria parietina in all the stations studied facilitates to use of it as a reliable biomonitor of plant tolerance to pollutants in urban ecosystems.

Abstract. Haichour R, Lograda T, Ramdani M, Chalard P, Figueredo G. 2020. Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of Pinus halepensis from Algeria. Biodiversitas 21: 4345-4360. The chemical composition of Pinus halepensis essential oils and their antibacterial activities were investigated. Plant samples were collected in the flowering stage from the East locality of Algeria. The aerial parts of P. halepensis obtained from fifteen localities were subjected to a hydro-distillation, providing pale yellow viscous oils. The obtained yield average was 0.64 ± 0.37%. The analysis of the chemical composition of essential oils was performed by using GC and GC / MS. A total of thirty-seven compounds representing 99.4 ± 0.5% of the total oils were identified in P. halepensis. The hydrocarbon compounds were found to dominate essential oils in P. halepensis. In addition, the major compounds were caryophyllene-E (29.06 ± 8.5%), myrcene (19.14 ± 6.67%), a-pinene (16.86 ± 3.35%), phenyl ethyl 3-methyl butanoate (5.67 ± 2.47%), a-humulene (4.81 ± 1.43%), terpinolene (3.94 ± 1.6%) and sabinene (3.11 ± 1.84%). Based on their chemical composition, essential oil samples were clustered in five groups by UPGMA analysis. The first group includes the Tafrent essential oil population. It is characterized by the phenyl ethyl-3-methyl butanoate – Sabinene ‒ Δ3-carene chemotype. The second group was subdivided into two clusters. The first cluster or chemotype was characterized by the myrcene ‒ α-pinene ‒ caryophyllene-E. The second chemotype was characterized by caryophyllene-E ‒ α-humulene ‒ myrcene. The essential oil of P. halepensis is an effective antimicrobial against Staphylococcus aureus; Klebsiella pneumonia; Salmonella enteric spp arizonae; Listeria innocua; Proteus mirabilis and Bacillus cereus, and no effect on the E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.