LICHENS COVERAGE ON NATIVE TREES FOLLOWING A GRADIENT OF URBANIZATION IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF ESTRELA, RS

Abstract

Air pollution is a growing reality around the world due to large amount of released daily waste, mainly from burning fossil fuels and industrial waste. This work shows the distribution of lichens alongan urbanization gradient in the city of Estrela, RS. The analysis was done along a street that was considered a transect, through the center of the town until reach an area with rural characteristics. The street was divided into six points, in which three are near downtown; two points are in an area with few homes and rural features, including an unpaved road and a point of transition between the urbanized and rural area. The methodology uses the CorelDraw 12 software to calculate the lichens coverage over the trees. The results indicate a reduction in the percentage of lichens in relation to the urban and rural gradient. The points located near the transition rural / urban areas presented higher percentage of lichens presence.