Two lichens differing in element concentrations have similar spatial patterns of element concentrations responding to road traffic and soil input.

Two epiphytic lichens (Xanthoria alfredii, XAa; X. ulophyllodes, XAu) and soil were sampled at three sites with varied distances to a road in a semiarid sandland in Inner Mongolia, China and analyzed for concentrations of 42 elements to assess the contribution of soil input and road traffic to lichen element burdens, and to compare element concentration differences between the two lichens. The study showed that multielement patterns, Fe:Ti and rare earth element ratios were similar between the lichen and soil samples. Enrichment factors (EFs) showed that ten elements (Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, K, P, Pb, S, Sb, and Zn) were enriched in the lichens relative to the local soil. Concentrations of most elements were higher in XAu than in XAa regardless of sites, and increased with proximity to the road regardless of lichen species. These results suggested that lichen element compositions were highly affected by soil input and road traffic. The narrow-lobed sorediate species were more efficient in particulate entrapment than the broad-lobed nonsorediate species. XAa and XAu are good bioaccumulators for road pollution in desert and have similar spatial patterns of element concentrations for most elements as response to road traffic emissions and soil input.