Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3.1. Peter James examining sulphide-rich boulders (SSSI) at Parys Mountain
colonised by Acarospora sinopica, 15 March 2003.
Forty years ago Oliver Gilbert's pioneering doctoral study on Biological
Indicators of Air Pollution (involving lichens, bryophytes, fungi, terrestrial
algae, phanerogams and invertebrates) carried out in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in
an area famous for its collieries and industrial heritage, was published and
presented at the first (and only) European Congress on the Influence of Air
Pollution on Plants and Animals held in Wageningen (Gilbert 1969 ). Air SO 2
concentrations were correlated with the sulphur contents of P. saxatilis
thalli (Gilbert 1965 , 1968 , 1969 ) and in Hypogymnia physodes (Griffith 1966 ;
Hawksworth 1973a ). Gilbert's detailed mapping studies of lichens and
bryophytes led to the first zone scales as they came under increasing pollution
stress. These correlated with SO 2 levels, a product of fuel combustion and
smelting (Gilbert 1969 , 1970 ). Gilbert and other pioneers established that
 
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