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Management and Conservational Approaches

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Lichens to Biomonitor the Environment

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Abstract

Since lichens are widely known for their high sensitivity towards environmental disturbances, both natural and human origin. Therefore, environmental changes result in alteration of habitats and ecosystems at local, regional as well as global scale resulting in loss of lichen biodiversity; extinction of sensitive species invasion of thermophilic species towards higher latitudes. Such changes can be best monitored by lichens as biomonitors. Lichen biomonitoring is not only suitable for monitoring levels of pollutants but also may be utilised as an effective ‘early alarms’ of climate change and spatio-temporal extent of pollutants along with its health impact. Lichens as indicators possess an undeniable appeal for conservationists and land managers as they provide a cost- and time-efficient means to assess the impact of environmental disturbances on an ecosystem. Information collected with different aims, such as air pollution, climate change, biodiversity and forest continuity studies, may be utilised for conservation purposes. This chapter discusses the need and utility of indicator species especially lichen biomonitoring data in sustainable forest management and conservation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, UP, India

    Vertika Shukla

  2. Lichenology Laboratory, CSIR - National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, UP, India

    D. K. Upreti & Rajesh Bajpai

Authors
  1. Vertika Shukla
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  2. D. K. Upreti
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  3. Rajesh Bajpai
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Shukla, V., Upreti, D.K., Bajpai, R. (2014). Management and Conservational Approaches. In: Lichens to Biomonitor the Environment. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1503-5_6

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