Maslać Mikulec Maja, Likić Saša, Antonić Oleg, Tkalec Mirta
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Geonatura Ltd., 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Toxics. 2025 Feb 25;13(3):160. doi: 10.3390/toxics13030160.
Lichens serve as effective bioindicators for air pollution studies, yet most biomonitoring research focuses primarily on the distance from pollution sources, often neglecting wind data that could elucidate the spread of airborne pollutants. In our previous study in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, we utilized data from a monitoring station, emphasizing the impact of meteorological conditions, particularly wind, on the dispersal of pollutants from a neighbouring oil refinery. To gain a deeper understanding of air pollution dynamics, here, we studied lichen vitality-measured through photochemical efficiency and photosynthetic pigments-alongside the metal (Ni, Zn, Cd, Pb) and non-metal (sulphur and nitrogen) content in native lichen species across 17 plots within a 20 km radius of the refinery. Our analysis employed generalized linear models (GLMs) to incorporate various environmental predictors, including distance from the refinery, direction-specific wind speed and frequency, vegetation density, and the orientation of lichen samples with respect to north and the refinery. Findings show that pollution levels are significantly influenced, not only by distance but also by direction-specific wind patterns, underscoring the necessity of including these variables in future biomonitoring studies and highlighting a critical need for air quality management interventions.
地衣是空气污染研究中有效的生物指示物，但大多数生物监测研究主要关注与污染源的距离，常常忽视能够阐明空气传播污染物扩散情况的风数据。在我们之前于克罗地亚斯拉沃尼亚布罗德开展的研究中，我们利用了一个监测站的数据，强调气象条件，特别是风，对来自附近炼油厂的污染物扩散的影响。为了更深入地了解空气污染动态，在此，我们研究了原生地衣物种的地衣活力（通过光化学效率和光合色素来衡量）以及金属（镍、锌、镉、铅）和非金属（硫和氮）含量，研究范围涵盖了炼油厂半径20公里内的17个地块。我们的分析采用广义线性模型（GLMs）来纳入各种环境预测变量，包括与炼油厂的距离、特定方向的风速和频率、植被密度以及地衣样本相对于北方和炼油厂的方向。研究结果表明，污染水平不仅受到距离的显著影响，还受到特定方向风型的显著影响，这凸显了在未来生物监测研究中纳入这些变量的必要性，并突出了对空气质量管理干预措施的迫切需求。
