Efficacy of lichens as bioindicators of atmospheric quality: A systematic review of the literature between the years 2011 and 2021

Authors

Aguirre, Mario

Arellano, Annely

Velásquez, Magda

Abstract

This research work aims to determine the effectiveness of lichens as bioindicators of atmospheric quality, according to research journals published in scientific databases between 2011 and 2021. For which a systematic review of 64 academic and scientific research of which we selected 43, counting on 22 theses and 21 scientific articles, and discarding 21 publications that did not fit the determined selection criteria. The main databases used were: Scielo, StuDocu, Lichenology Congresses, Google Scholar, Alicia Repository, Renati, Dialnet, and Institutional Repositories of National and International Universities. This review shows that in the country there are studies on the subject, as well as in Mexico, Colombia, Spain, among others; but that the greatest difficulty, apart from the years of antiquity where the investigations have been carried out, was to classify the lichens studied by species due to the enormous number of them found in the information collected, as well as how these species generally share the same Intrinsic characteristics in this study have been classified by genres. Also with the analysis of the studies carried out between these years, it has been shown that the use of lichens as bioindicators will depend on the type of species, the topography of the place, the meteorological and geological conditions, and the exposure to pollutants; Although similar results have been obtained to those that have been evaluated with traditional methodologies, it is important to emphasize that further study and analysis of the taxonomy of each species is needed.