Effects of atmospheric contamination on biomonitoring organisms

This paragraph illustrates the use of lichens to study the transboundary transport of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), based on a case study in Switzerland examining the spatial distribution of chlorinated air pollutants. Representative samples of the foliose lichen Parmelia sulcata (Taylor) were collected from 33 spatially distributed measurement sites in Switzerland, representing all relevant sources of air pollution such as industrial sites, large and medium-sized cities and agglomerations, motorized traffic sites, rural and "background" sites, from plateau sites to alpine regions. Samples were analyzed for a range of 88 individual chlorinated air pollutants and other volatile POPs from eight different classes: short-chain chlorinated kerosenes (CFCs), chlorobenzenes, polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), polychlorinated dinenzo-p-dioxins and...