Méndez O I, Fournier L A
Rev Biol Trop. 1980 Jul;28(1):31-9.
Lichens were used as air pollution indicators in the metropolitan area of San José, Costa Rica. Transplants showed a positive correlation between the percentage of dead cells in the thallus and the ketone soluble substances deposited on it. Those parts of the city where pollution is greatest (industrial areas and heavy traffic) were also the ones where lichens suffered the most, and in some extreme cases the thallus died after 8 months of exposure. Besides this transplant experiment, the coverage of Parmelia lichens on the bark of several tree species was determined in some areas of the city. The results of these observations suggest that the city of San José has three different kinds of air environment in relation to lichen survival: normal, transitional and desertic, as reported for other cities of the world. The most frequent air pollutants in San José are: CO, CO2, C2H5OH, Cl2, HCl, H2S, H3PO4, H2CrO4, NO, NH3, NH4 Cl, SO2 and Zn.
地衣被用作哥斯达黎加圣何塞大都市区的空气污染指标。移植实验表明，地衣叶状体中死亡细胞的百分比与沉积在其上的酮溶性物质之间存在正相关关系。城市中污染最严重的地区（工业区和交通繁忙地段）也是地衣受影响最大的地方，在一些极端情况下，叶状体在暴露8个月后死亡。除了这个移植实验，还在城市的一些区域测定了几种树种树皮上帕氏地衣的覆盖情况。这些观测结果表明，与世界其他城市的情况一样，就地衣生存而言，圣何塞市有三种不同类型的空气环境：正常、过渡和荒漠型。圣何塞最常见的空气污染物有：一氧化碳、二氧化碳、乙醇、氯气、氯化氢、硫化氢、磷酸、铬酸、一氧化氮、氨气、氯化铵、二氧化硫和锌。
