Edmonton Lichen Biomonitoring
Categories: Environmental Monitoring
Status: In Progress
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.
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!
- Learn a little about lichens – download our booklet on YEG lichens.
- Share your lichen sightings through apps like iNaturalist.
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.
See more of our projects and ongoing work.
Cumulative Effects Assessment for Biodiversity
The Peltigera project aims to expand our understanding of Peltigera lichen diversity in Alberta through genetic markers. Building on the research done by global Peltigera experts, we hope to use genetic data to both verify our identifications and detect new species to the province.
The RECCAP Project
The RECCAP project—Retrospective Evaluation of Contaminants in Cryptogams in the Alberta Oil Sands Region Partnership—is exploring the use of ABMI data and specimens to determine environmental contaminant levels and their effects.
Wetland Genomics Project
This project will help to expand our understanding of the cumulative effects of intensive agriculture and climate change in aquatic ecosystems while expanding the use of new techniques in environmental genomics to support large-scale monitoring of aquatic invertebrates and plants.
