Bioindicator monitoring

Grey lichen shot from up close.

A bioindicator refers to any species that is particularly sensitive to some environmental factor and can therefore be used to assess the state of the environment. For example, a bioindicator can react to air pollutants by reduced occurrence, or by altered condition and appearance. Examples of bioindicators include plants and lichens affected by air pollutants, as well as predators at the top of the food chain, such as sea eagles, peregrine falcons and seals.

The Environmental Protection Act obliges municipalities to see to the necessary monitoring of the state of the environment in accordance with the local conditions within their territory. According to the Government Decree on Air Quality, the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres) must have knowledge of air quality and ensure that air quality monitoring is well-organised within their territory. The obligations related to the monitoring of air quality effects of industrial plants are laid down in the environmental permits for operations. Municipalities and industry have been monitoring the air quality in Uusimaa by measurements since the 1970s. In Uusimaa, air quality monitoring is carried out as joint regional monitoring, the costs of which are borne by the region’s municipalities and in part by industrial plants. HSY is responsible for air quality measurements in Uusimaa.

Air quality and its development in Uusimaa have been examined by various parties by means of various bioindicator studies since the 1980s. The first common monitoring programme encompassing the entire Uusimaa was published in 2000 and based on it, bioindicator research covering the Uusimaa region was conducted in 2000–2001, 2004–2005, 2009, and 2014. From 2009 onwards, the bioindicator monitoring in Uusimaa has consisted only of lichen mapping. The monitoring focuses on determining the occurrence of 12 epiphytic lichens on pine trunks in accordance with the SFS 5670 standard. Additionally, the profusion of different lichen species and condition of tube lichen (Hypogymnia physodes) were assessed. The monitoring was conducted simultaneously in the entire Uusimaa region.

The monitoring programme was updated in 2018–2019, and the next lichen mapping was carried out in 2020 in accordance with the new monitoring programme. Compared to previous years, the sampling point network has been thinned out in background areas, but remains unchanged in population centres. A new SFS-EN 16413 standard of lichen mapping has been published, but monitoring was carried out in accordance with the old standard so that the results are comparable with previous monitoring.