The theme for World Wildlife Day (WWD) celebrations in 2022 is “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration”. This day is observed to spread awareness about the conservation status of endangered species of wild fauna and flora, and to inspire solutions to safeguard the protection of the amazing biodiversity in our planet.
It is a great honor for Gitika Trust to host Dr. Loppi's talk on the beautiful and yet underappreciated world of lichens. A composite organism developing from a symbiotic relationship between cyanobacteria and fungi species, lichens represent key species that need to be safeguarded from disruptive anthropogenic activities. Throughout the evolutionary history, lichens have played a versatile role in influencing biodiversity and transforming the fate of the Earth's surface.
Dr. Loppi has performed pioneering research in documenting the effects on the natural world of lichens caused by anthropogenic activities. Throughout this talk, Dr. Loppi will share his research on how epiphytic (tree inhabiting) lichens respond to environmental changes and can therefore serve as useful tools in bio-monitoring the quality of an ecosystem. For instance, Dr. Loppi will share his highly cited research on biomonitoring lichen diversity---acidophytes, neutrophytes and nitrophytes- around a pig stock farm and how it can provide an estimate of the ammonia concentrations in the air.
Furthermore, lichens are bio-accumulators (behave like sponges) and Dr. Loppi will provide examples of how this quality in lichens can be harnessed to document the role of heavy metals accumulation near mineral mines. Dr. Loppi will also highlight examples of some of his recent research in how lichens can serve as environmental markers of trace elements; and accumulation of airborne microplastics in landfill dumping sites. Thus, Dr. Loppi designates lichen diversity studies as 'the framework of environmental forensics' to comprehensively understand the biological effects of air pollution and makes a strong case for further epidemiological studies.