Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Indicators journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolind Original Articles One year of transplant: Is it enough for lichens to reflect the new atmospheric conditions? Luca Paoli a, ⁎ , Andrea Vannini a , Zuzana Fačkovcová b , Massimo Guarnieri a , Martin Bačkor c , Stefano Loppi a a Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, via P.A. Mattioli 4, I-53100 Siena, Italy b Institute of Botany, Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-84123 Bratislava, Slovakia c Department of Botany, Institute of Biology and Ecology, P.J. Šafárik University in Košice, Mánesova 23, SK-04001 Košice, Slovakia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Biomonitoring Environmental recovery Flavoparmelia caperata Heavy metals Landfill ABSTRACT How long does it take a lichen to respond to changes (worsening or improvement) of atmospheric conditions is still discussed. We selected and removed lichen thalli (Flavoparmelia caperata) from sites subject to different intensities of pollution around a landfill in Central Italy and exposed them in a remote unpolluted area for 12 months. The content of elements of toxicological concern (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn) and several physiological parameters in lichen thalli (chlorophyll a fluorescence emission, chlorophyll content and integrity, membrane lipid peroxidation, content of secondary metabolites and ergosterol content) were investigated before and after the recovery and hence compared with those of native (and clean) samples of the remote area. In an opposite trial, heavy metals content was investigated in samples taken from the remote area and exposed around the landfill. Values of the transplants were then compared with those of native samples at the landfill. From chemical point of view, the content of heavy metals decreased (by ca. 25%) in lichen thalli taken from the landfill and exposed in the remote area, however background values were never reached. On the other hand, lichen thalli taken from the remote area and exposed around the landfill accumulated up to ca. 80% of the content of in situ samples. The rate of accumulation was higher than the rate of element loss referred to the same temporal interval. The recovery of physiological parameters, especially those typical of the mycobiont or of the whole lichen symbiosis, was much faster than heavy metal detoxification, and after 12 months transplanted lichens already reflected the new environmental conditions at the remote site. 1. Introduction It is widely accepted that biomonitoring, i.e. the use of living or- ganisms for monitoring of air pollution, may help for the im- plementation of environmental policy on air quality and atmospheric pollution control (Pirintsos and Loppi, 2008). Among biomonitors, li- chens and mosses are of primary importance as indicators of air quality (Aničić Urošević et al., 2017). Since lichen metabolism depends on the mineral uptake from the atmosphere, these organisms are effective in trapping trace elements from the surrounding environment, well re- flecting the environmental levels of heavy metals (Bari et al., 2001; Sloof, 1995). In a recent review, Loppi and Paoli (2017) pointed out the usefulness of lichen biomonitoring as a tool for the implementation of environmental friendly waste management policies. Previous lichen based studies reported on the biological impact of air pollution de- termined by different waste management strategies, such as waste incineration (Loppi et al., 1995, 2000; Paoli et al., 2015b; Protano et al., 2015; Tretiach et al., 2011), landfilling (Nannoni et al., 2015; Paoli et al., 2012, 2015a), industrial composting (Paoli et al., 2014), and the number of applications around point sources is steadily increasing. Environmental biomonitoring should be regularly included in the pro- cess of impact assessment of waste management strategies, evaluating the ecological impacts of specific activities and the effectiveness of environmental recovery, in support of regulatory procedures and pro- viding consistent data for environmental management (Loppi and Paoli, 2017). However, so far the use of bioindicators has been only occa- sionally introduced into environmental monitoring around landfill sites (Kotovicová et al., 2011; Paoli et al., 2012; Protano et al., 2014). How long does it take a lichen to respond to changes (worsening or improvement) of atmospheric conditions is still debated. The uptake and release of trace elements are reversible processes influenced by thallus morphology, age, physiological status, pH, duration of exposure, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.01.043 Received 17 May 2017; Received in revised form 20 January 2018; Accepted 23 January 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: paoli4@unisi.it (L. Paoli). Ecological Indicators 88 (2018) 495–502 1470-160X/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T