Utilization of Xanthomendoza fallax for environmental monitoring
The observation I chose to research further was the Hooded Sunburst Lichen, or Xanthomendoza fallax. I found that it is a type of eutrophic lichen, which proves especially useful for identifying certain attributes of arboreal environments. The one condition that was the most often mentioned was that of nitrogen levels in arboreal environments, as it allowed the investigation into how nitrogen pollution might be occurring. The health and size of lichen communities with respect to other organisms are used to determine this result.