1. Lichens and Pollution … Is our air clean? Activities follow the information on the OPAL air survey web pages - http://www.opalexplorenature.org/ Compiled by Jacqui Middleton, 2010.

2. WHAT IS A LICHEN? oLichens are made up of two different organisms living together: A fungus and an alga. oThe fungus provides the body in which the alga can live protected from light and drought. oThe alga makes the food for the fungus.

3. Many lichens do not like air pollution There are many types of air pollution: oSmoke from chimneys oCar fumes oDust and fertiliser from fields oFumes from factories and power stations All of these types of air pollution contain NITROGEN – many lichens do not like too much NITROGEN.

4. What do our air-monitor lichens look like? Leafy lichens Bushy lichens Evernia - Green top & White underside Usnea – like a wirey beard Hypogymnia – a puffy lichen with no hairs Parmelia family – brown, yellow-green and grey-green leafy lichens – have short hairs on their underside Xanthoria – orange leafy lichens Physcia – with longish hairs on the edges

5. Our air- monitor lichens will tell us how clean our air is.

6. We are going to find the 4 best lichen trees in the school grounds. Each group will choose one tree and measure its girth using a tape measure (or a piece of string and a ruler). Looking for our lichens - 1

7. Looking for our lichens - 2 We are going to look for the different lichens on the trunk of a tree up to our heads. We are also going to say how much of each type of lichen is on the tree and will tell our group leader. 0 = no lichens 1 = enough lichens to cover a quarter of a sheet of A4 2 = enough lichens to cover half a sheet of A4 3 = enough lichens to cover a whole sheet or more A4 sheet of paper 123 1 2 3

8. We are going to look for lichens on twigs We are going to look for algae (dark green or orange powder) Your group leader will make a note of what you see on your group’s record sheet. Looking for our lichens - 3

9. What do the results mean? Places with clean air have more pollution sensitive bushy lichens (e.g. Usnea and Evernia) Places that have a lot of nitrogen will have a lot of the orange leafy lichens (Xanthoria) Places that have quite clean air will have lots of the green and brown leafy lichens (Parmelias) If both are growing together then the air might be changing

10. After we come back in … The oldest children will set up air pollution tubes to put outside. Everyone else will make drawings and/or write about what we did to put up on our display or into our Wildlife Club display book. Please stay with your groups today. For more information and downloads concerning these activities go to the OPAL air survey web pages - http://www.opalexplorenature.org/