Life forms and geographical distribution of lichens urban ecosystem of the city of Timashevsk Krasnodar territory

Lichens are an important component of phytocenosis since they take part in formation of plant community microclimate, inhabit areas hardly suitable for other organisms, secret acids which retard the growth of some plants, etc. The article presents the results of taxonomic, geographic and environmental analysis of lichen biota in Timashevsk, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The urban ecosystem accomodates 51 lichen species which belong to 27 genera, 12 families, and 2 groups. Life forms of lichens were detected in urban ecosystem. One of the methods of atmospheric air quality assessment is based on the usage of species composition of lichen biota in the studied urban ecosystem, and on defining of sensitivity of species. The list of lichens for the whole urban ecosystem, as well as for its particular areas, helps provide a solid assessment of the condition of air basin in this area, and compare the air quality on the parts of the explored territory. Therefore, lichens can be used as a bioindicator for long-term surveillance of atmospheric environment in urbanized territories of the North-West Caucasus.