Journal of Stress Physiology & Biochemistry, Vol. 7, No. 4,
2011, pp. 311- 323. ISSN 1997-0838
Original Text Copyright (cc) 2011 by Das, Dey, Bhaumik, Datta and Mondal
A comparative study of lichen biochemistry and air pollution
status of urban, semi urban and industrial area of Hooghly and Burdwan
district, West Bengal
Das K., U. Dey, R. Bhaumik, J.K. Datta and N.K. Mondal*
Department of Environmental Science, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, 713104, W.B., India
*E-mail: nabakumar_mondal@indiatimes.com
Received September 30, 2011
Lichens are group of
nonvascular plants. Lichen absorbs water and nutrient passively from
their environment. Because of this lichens are particularly sensitive
to environmental factors such as temperature, water availability, and
air pollutants and/or by substances accumulates in lichen from the
environment through variety of mechanisms including particulate
trapping, ion exchange, extracellular electrolyte adsorption,
hydrolysis and intra cellular uptake. Air pollution control is more
complex than most other environmental changes. A study has been done to
evaluate the air pollution status by means of lichen through the
biochemical variability of three macro environment (semiurban area
Arambagh, urban area Burdwan and industrial area Durgapur). The study
results revealed that there exist inverse relationship between
pollutant load and pigment content (chlorophyll and carotenoid
content). Average concentration of chlorophyll ‘a’, ‘b’, and total
chlorophyll was found in following order,
Site-II>Site-III>Site-I. From the result of Chlorophyll Stability
Index (CSI) it has been found that the chlorophyll degradation is
highest in Site-II followed by Site-III and lowest in Site-I. There is
a strong inverse relationship of chlorophyll content in lichen with SO2
and NOx but the level of SPM found highest in Site-I followed by
Site-III and lowest in Site-II. Moreover, biochemical constituents
(protein, sugar, phenol and proline) of all the representative samples
were also vary from site to site. The study results reveal that the
amount of soluble sugar was highest recorded at Site-III followed by
Site–I and lowest in Site-II. Again correlation study indicates that
there is positive relationship between soluble sugar and phenol content
at 5% level of significance. Therefore, it also indicates that the
lichen metabolite and other physiological action monitored by SO2,
NOx and SPM level in the air. Studies showed that the semiurban area
was under more vulnerable condition than industrial and urban area of
Hooghly and Burdwan district. Moreover the micrograph study of
representative lichen samples directly proved that lichen structure
affected by air pollutants, but the extent of deformation exclusively
depends on the level of pollutants present in the air. Results also
suggest that different level of air pollutants (SO2,
NOx and SPM) affect the biochemical parameters of lichen, but more
extensive study is needed to confirm the relationship between air
pollution status and lichen biochemistry.
Key words: Biological indicator/ Physiological Indicator/ Pigment Content/ Pollution Stress/ SO2 and NOx toxicity.
