Lichen Air Quality Survey

Thursday 20th June was Clean Air Day 2019, the UK’s largest campaign against air pollution. Before this on Wednesday 5th June it was World Environment Day, the United Nations’ day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment, with this year’s theme focusing on air pollution.

Between the two events, Multiplex engaged in a number of activities to help educate people on air pollution, and to promote different ways in which our staff and supply chain can help to clean up the air that we breathe. This included members of the University of Glasgow Project Team utilising the little known ability of lichen (a plant-like organism that grows on rocks, trees and/or walls) as a natural indicator of local air quality. The team learned that of the varieties of lichen surveyed, some are considered ‘nitrogen loving’ whilst others are highly sensitive to it, and subsequently went on to sample a number of trees for the organism around the site perimeter.

In addition to gaining an understanding of the impacts that air quality can have on the surrounding environment, the results of the team’s survey were submitted to the national OPAL Air Survey database, which in turn will help support further scientific research on the subject.