Epiphytic lichens, indicators of environmental quality in forest ecosystems in the metropolitan area of Bucharest

Lichens are by far the most indicators of the environmental quality, due to their sensitivity to anthropogenic impact. The assessment of environmental quality, has been performed in forest ecosystems located within Bucharest metropolitan area by using epiphytic lichens. A total of 27 lichen species were recorded in the investigated forests, of which some certain lichen species, such as: Candelaria concolor (Dicks.) Ach., Flavoparmelia caperata (L.) Hale, Pertusaria dacica Erichs., and Ramalina farinacea (L.) Ach. were not found within disturbed forests from the studied area. The presence of mentioned lichen species is attributed to an improvement of atmospheric quality. Regarding the number of inventoried lichen species no major differences were recorded in the investigated forests as a function of the distance from Bucharest Municipality. One certain lichen species (Flavoparmelia caperata) which have recorded the highest values of relative abundance have a rather low to intermediate resistance to atmospheric pollution, therefore it has been found within relatively unaffected forestry ecosystems unlike cosmopolitan lichen species which have recorded higher values of relative abundance in proximity of anthropogenic sources. The values of Atmospheric Purity Index has revealed for a majority of investigated forests a rather low environmental quality.