ABSTRACT
Aim: Epiphytic lichens are biological indicators, which can give information about the environmental changes of the ecosystem. The differences in richness and community compositions of lichens can indicate the environmental quality of their location. This study was done in order to examine the possible differences in richness and in community composition of lichens that may have occurred in the research area, Kurşunlu Waterfall Nature Park and surroundings.Methodology: Kurşunlu Waterfall Nature Park and surroundings was divided into 4 sections; natural area near brook, natural pine forest area, planted pine forest area and agricultural greenhouses area. The study was planned to focus on epiphytic lichens living on Pinus brutia Ten. trees. European Guideline, which is a standardized method to assess lichen diversity (LDV) on tree bark for monitoring environmental stress, was used for monitoring quality of four different environmental conditions with lichens. In order to determine the differences of lichen community composition of these four conditions, some statistical analyses were performed. Results: Lichen richness of planted pine forest area was found poorer and statistically different than the other areas. In addition, the lichen community composition of natural pine forest area was found significantly different than the agricultural greenhouse area and the natural area near brook, partly different than the planted pine forest area. Statistical evaluations indicate that the natural pine forest area had natural or semi-natural habitat characteristics and there was no or less eutrophication in this region. Also it showed that other areas were affected by the presence of human damage and eutrophic pollution load in the environment. This eutrophic pollution load was related to non-ecological agriculture applications around the park. Interpretation: This study proves that epiphytic lichens change their community composition by adapting to changes in environmental conditions. Also this study showed that lichens are strong indicators of environmental quality.