Transplanted lichens in and around the Mount Carmel National Park and the Haifa Bay industrial region in Israel: Physiological and chemical responses

This study investigated the impact of air pollution on the spectral reflect ance of the epiphytic lichen Ramalina lacera, indicated by the normalized d ifference vegetation index (NDVI), on the integrity of chlorophyll, indicat ed by the ratio OD435nm/OD415 nm, and on the integrity of cell membranes, i ndicated by electric conductivity. Data relating to physiological parameter s of injury were integrated with data concerning the detrimental deposition of mineral elements. The transplanted lichen, originating in a relatively unpolluted site in Israel, was placed in 17 sites on and around the Carmel Mountain and in 2 sites in an industrial region in the Haifa Bay, northwest Israel, for a period of 10 months. The accumulated amounts of Ca, Ti, Cu, Mg, Fe, Si, Ni, Zn, V, Cr, Mn, Cl-, K, F-, Na, Ba, Sr, B, S, P, Al, PO43-, SO42-, and NO3- were related to alterations in spectral reflectance and inj ury caused to chlorophyll and cell membranes. At the end of the period of e xposure, the retrieved transplants from the Haifa Bay exhibited low NDVI va lues and low OD435 nm/OD415 nm ratios, indicating chlorophyll degradation, and high electric conductivity values, indicating damaged cell membranes. N DVI values correlated positively with OD435 nm/OD415 nm ratios and negative ly with accumulated amounts of Ba, Cu, Ni, S, SO42-, V, and Zn. OD435 nm/OD 415 nm ratios correlated negatively with amounts of Ba, Cu, Ni, NO3-, SO42- , and V. Values obtained for electric conductivity correlated positively wi th amounts of B, Ba, Cl-, Cr, Cu, Na, Ni, NO3-, S, and SO42-. Both elementa l and ion content and the physiological status of the R. lacera transplants indicated that the greater part of the biomonitoring sites on and around t he Carmel Mountain were slightly polluted or unpolluted, whereas the Haifa Bay region was rather polluted. The greater part of the HaifaBay pollution derives from the combustion of heavy fuel oil. (C) 2001 Academic Press.