Microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and others) are considered to be the pioneers of the settlement under extreme conditions and take an active part in biomineralization and soil formation. We studied biofilms and for the first time identified the presence of microbial biomineralization in extreme conditions of Tolbachik Volcano area, Russia. Rock samples with lichen / cyanobacteria biofilms were studied by a complex of methods (optical and scanning electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive … Read more... 

Plants are a good source of biological forensic evidence; this is due to their ubiquity, their ability to collect reference material, and their sensitivity to environmental changes. However, in many countries, botanical evidence is recognised as being scientifically. Botanical evidence is not mostly used for perpertration, instead it tends to serve as circumstantial evidence. Plant materials constitute the basis, among others, for linking a suspect or object to a crime scene or a victim, confirming … Read more... 

The circumboreal/circumpolar N2-fixing lichen Stereocaulon vesuvianum is among the most widespread and abundant fruticose species in montane Britain but has lost the capacity to fix N2 over large areas of the country. To investigate whether loss of N2-fixation in S. vesuvianum is linked to increased N deposition, we examined thallus morphology, physiology and chemistry at twelve locations representing an N deposition gradient of 3–40 kg ha−1 year−1. Measurements were made in parallel on … Read more... 

Lichens fix carbon dioxide from the air to build biomass. Crustose and foliose lichens grow as nearly flat, circular disks. Smaller individuals grow slowly, but with small, steady increases in radial growth rate over time. Larger individuals grow more quickly and with a roughly constant radial velocity maintained over the lifetime of the lichen. We translate the coffee drop effect to model lichen growth and demonstrate that growth patterns follow directly from the diffusion of carbon dioxide in the … Read more... 

Although awareness that air pollution can damage vegetation dates back at least to the 1600s, the processes and mechanisms of damage were not rigorously studied until the late twentieth century. In the UK following the Industrial Revolution, urban air quality became very poor, with highly phytotoxic SO2 and NO2 concentrations, and remained that way until the mid-twentieth century. Since then both air quality, and our understanding of pollutants and their impacts, have greatly improved. Air pollutants … Read more...