Student Research Reports

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In our project, we assessed air quality in the city of Karlovac at two city locations by investigating the biodiversity and species of lichens on silver maple trees (Acer saccharinum). We asked the following research questions: Which location will have the highest biodiversity of lichens? Which species of lichens will we find at both locations? What is the air quality at the locations studied according to the species of lichens found? We divided the lichen species found according to the degree of eutrophication, which includes the deposition of dust and nitrogen compounds in the air and tree bark, into eutrophic, mesotrophic and oligotrophic. The eutrophic group represents lichens that are extremely tolerant to the presence of nitrogen compounds in the air and tree bark, the mesotrophic group represents moderately tolerant lichens, and the oligotrophic group represents lichens that are extremely sensitive to the presence of nitrogen compounds in the air and tree bark. The results showed the presence of lichens on all studied trees at both locations. At the Arboretum location, lichen biodiversity is lower compared to the School Park location. At the Arboretum location, we found the lichen Evernia prunastri, which belongs to the group of oligotrophic lichens, while this species was not found at the School Park location. Mesotrophic lichens Parmelia sulcata, Melanelixia sp. and Flavoparmelia caperata were found in both investigated locations. Two types of eutrophic lichens were found at the Arboretum location, while six types of lichens from this group were found at the School Park location. According to the found species, we have confirmed better air quality at the Arboretum location.