Epiphytic macrolichens in Seoul: 35 years after the first lichen study in Korea

Abstract

Many lichens have been used as bioindicators for air pollutants such as SO 2 . The first ecological study on lichens in Korea was conducted in 1975 by Kim and Lee, disclosing that areas adjacent to the center of Seoul were lichen deserts. Air quality in Seoul has improved significantly since the 1980s. However, the distribution of lichen species has not been reevaluated since then. We examined the spatial and temporal pattern of lichen distribution by selecting six (inner city green [ICG] and four (outer city green [OCG]) sites, based on the distance from the city center of Seoul and the land use pattern. The change in lichen distribution was related to yearly mean concentrations of SO 2 , NO 2 , and O 3 for the years 1980-2009. Four and 13 lichen species were found in ICGs and OCGs, respectively. Although mean sample numbers per species were much higher in the former, species richness tended to increase with distance from the city center. Since 1980, SO 2 has declined drastically to < 0.01 ppm in both ICGs and OCGs, indicating that SO 2 is no longer a limiting factor for lichen establishment and growth. In contrast, NO 2 has increased steadily for 20 years ) and a considerable proportion of lichen species in both ICGs and OCGs are known as nitrophilic or pollution-tolerant species. Appearance of nitrophiles in both ICGs and OCGs and the dominance of a few lichen species in ICGs may reflect the effects of the increase in NO 2 . In contrast to SO 2 and NO 2 , O 3 was higher in OCGs, but it was difficult to identify a causal relationship between O 3 and lichen distribution.

Evaluation of air quality using lichens in three different types of forest in Korea

“…Thus, the average concentration of NO 2 , SO 2 , and O 3 observed for the period of 9 months indicates that the air quality in all the forests is comparatively high (Figure 4). These findings are further confirmed when compared with the work recently carried out by Ahn et al (2011) in Seoul. According to their findings, only four lichen species were recorded from six parks around the Seoul city center with somewhat higher SO 2 (40À60 ppb), NO 2 (10À50 ppb), and somewhat less O 3 (< 10 ppb) pollutant concentrations.…”

“…However, there is no, or very little, information available on lichen diversity and air quality in temperate regions of northeast Asian countries. Although several taxonomical works on Korean lichen have been carried out recently, there are few records on lichen distribution related to selected pollution sources (Yu et al 1995;Kim and Kang 2001), lichen distribution within and outside cities in relation to pollution levels (Ahn et al 2011), and selection of possible lichen bioindicators for air pollution (Hur and Kim 2000). In the present study, attempts were made to correlate air quality and lichen diversity in selected forest areas in South Korea and to find out whether lichen can be used as an air quality indicator for forest health assessment.…”

Characteristics of Microbial Communities of Pachygrontha antennata (Hemiptera: Pachygronthidae) in Relation to Habitat Variables

“…Pachygrontha antennata [18] belongs to the order Hemiptera and family Pachygronthidae, and this species is a major pest in agricultural areas. The adult insects are typically found between April and October, and are distributed across Korea, Japan, China, and Russia [19]. This insect was suitable for our examination of the environmental influences on the microbial community for two reasons.…”