About the Project

Lichens have long been used as air-quality biomonitors in cities around the globe.

However, much of this work historically happened in milder climates; in dry and cold climates, the lichen community is missing many of the species traditionally used in biomonitoring. We collaborated with the City of Edmonton and the University of Alberta to address two questions:

  • What lichens live in Edmonton?
  • What can lichens tell us about air quality and the environment?
     

Our goal is to create a lichen-based citizen science biomonitoring tool for Edmonton so we can learn more about our city’s air quality.

Usnea lapponica

Parmelia sulcata

Peltigera didactyla

Questions? Get in touch.

Dr. Diane Haughland
Lead Scientist, Lichens and Allied Fungi, Processing Centre

Project Collaborators

  • City of Edmonton
  • University of Alberta

Our Approach

Know your neighbours: What lichens live in Edmonton?

Despite the millions of potential observers in cities, urban lichens are understudied. We’re addressing this gap for the City of Edmonton using a variety of methods: targeted surveys in parks and protected areas, student-driven surveys of boulevard trees and rare tree species, herbarium research at the Royal Alberta Museum, and collecting observations from naturalist apps like NatureLynx and iNaturalist. Our recent publication provides descriptions, images, distribution maps, and keys to help you get to know Edmonton’s lichens.
 

What drives who grows where?

Christopher Schulze, a City of Edmonton sustainability scholar and University of Alberta PhD student, completed the first round of analyses in 2020. Lichen community data was analyzed alongside air-quality data from the seven permanent monitoring stations and from the City of Edmonton on land use, traffic counts, road density, canopy cover, and soil moisture. Chris’s 2020 report can be found here.
 

What's next?

  • We’re planning another round of data analyses to finalize which species we think are the best biomonitors.
  • We continue to collect data and sightings, including visiting rare or undersampled habitats, to expand our lichen list.
     

Want to participate? Here’s how!

Our goal is to create a lichen-based citizen science biomonitoring tool for Edmonton so that we can learn more about our city’s air quality.

Project Impact

To date, we’ve documented 114 species of lichens in Edmonton, and we know there are many more waiting to make our acquaintance. This project has also built the local lichen community through student projects and public lichen walks, helping to enhance our collective awareness of the fascinating organisms we coexist.