OPAL air survey lichens & tar spot fungus

[shirl]

Anyone else doing this survey Air survey - join in now | OPAL . Just submitted my results, quite good fun looking at lichens on trees and counting tar spot fungus on sycamore leaves.

Shirl

[gillstevens]

There's something in the air!

Hi Shirl, really glad to hear you enjoyed the OPAL Air survey. Would love everyone on Wild About Britain to sign up!! You're ahead of the game as the survey has it's 'official' launch on 29th September. By getting involved and surveying lichens in your local area, you can contribute towards important research into lichen distribution and air quality all over England. Contact g.stevens@nhm.ac.uk for more information or a free survey pack, or visit OPAL | The Open Air Laboratories Network
Happy hunting!!
Gill

[AlanS]

Why just England?

Actually I see the results map does include a few returns from Wales and Scotland, but it seems a pity to discourage such returns.

Here in Scotland I was out with a student field trip yesterday, and I pointed out the Opal survey nitrophilous species on riverside trees bordering farmland, and then, up a valley just a few miles away, the sensitive species. We are returning to these sites again soon and I might get the students to complete a survey if time allows (a big 'if), even if Scottish results are not really wanted.

Gotta wonder whether Flavoparmelia was a good choice for this, though. Fine is there was only F. caperata to consider, but since the very similar F. soredians is spreading rapidly and may well be more ammonia tolerant, it could muddy the results.

I note that early returns also may well be strongly biased by the urban locations of schools, but maybe this is where (English) WAB members can help?

Alan

[gillstevens]

Hi Alan
Thanks for your interest. The 'England only' focus is a consequence of our funding restrictions. The grant that supports the development of this and other OPAL projects is from the Big Lottery Fund Changing Spaces programme, which had a national focus.
As you saw from the online maps, results from outside England are welcomed, but of course, are terribly underrepresented, as we are not 'actively' promoting the work there. I really hope the resources that are being developed under this project will be useful to the wider UK audience, and as you will be aware, we are making the, freely downloadable. If you are interested in receiving a limited number of hard copies of the survey materials, let me know and I’ll see what I can do!
The lichen indicator species were selected through long consultation with the British Lichen Society and we are of course aware of their potential short-comings. We are looking for broad trends and although in an ideal world we would be asking for species records, asking non-specialists to distinguish between F. soredians and F. caperata might be a bit of a challenge….
The urban bias is the result of a combination of schools involvement and our network of regional centres all being based in large cities. We are also trying to encourage our highly urbanised population to get out and look at nature – part of the reason we have selected such accessible ‘biodiversity’.
Any help to redress the balance via WAB members, those who really get outside the concrete jungle, would be most welcome!
Best wishes
Gill