Measuring Air Quality using Lichen Mapping at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Campus

A study relating air quality with lichens was conducted at Universiti Kebangsaan Bangi campus. The aim is to determine the land of pollution in the area where the lichens are going. The site fulfils many characteristics for a good location such as the age of the campus which is more than 40 years, population density, buildings, traffic in the campus as well as at its periphery, hills surrounding the buildings, forest reserve, recreational gardens as well as daily activities in the campus. The palm trees in UKM comprise of 36 species, among them, Roystenia oleracea, R. regia, Veitchia merillii, Cocos nucifera, Bentinckia nicobarica, Archontophoenix alexandrae, Livistona rotundifolia, Areca catechu and Chrysalidocarpus lutescens which are good hosts to lichens. Twenty seven areas around the UKM campus were selected and they consist of 110 palm trees. The nitrogen content and pH values of each host at a height of 1 m and 2 m above the ground were collected. Each palm tree was selected according to the geographical position such as near to a road, hill, forest reserve, river, golf course and students’ residences. The locations were recorded using GPS and all data were entered in the GIS. The pH at the height of 1m of the pal host was 4.87±0.48, whilst the pH value at the height of 2 m was 4.88±0.46. The nitrogen content at the height of 1 m was 0.5940±0.4437% and for the height of 2 m was 0.6586±0.5698%. The lichens growing on the host are epiphytic lichens from the genus/species Arthonia, Caloplaca, Chrysothrix, Dirinaria, Hyperphyscia adglutinata, Laurera, Lecanographa, Lecanora, Parmotrema tinctorum, Parmotrema praesorediosum, Physcia, Pyxine cocoes, Rinodina, Trypethelium and Graphidaceae. Quadrant study at each host for epiphytic lichen gave values for air quality at the study site because each lichen will give a specific score according to its tolerance towards air pollution. The determination of air quality can be determined by the total lichen score in each quadrant. The results showed that the air quality can be categorized to 4 levels, that is, a score more than 10 is clean air, 0-10 is moderate, –10 to 0 is slightly polluted and less than -10 is highly polluted. The study showed that the location of the lichen at the palm host at UKM is consistent to the air quality. Overall, the Air Quality Score at UKM is 8.39±4.33 which is in the moderate category.