Early attempts to look at the link between air pollution and wildlife focused mainly on the so- called "charismatic megafauna", ie on large and "colourful" species of animals. In fact, the most widely affected species - in terms of both number of species suffering damage from air pollution and also sensitivity of individual species to pollution - are amongst the lower life forms. In particular, lichens, bryophytes, fungi, and soft-bodied aquatic invertebrates are likely to be at risk. Impacts of pollution in these high risk groups are likely to be general across many species, and directly related to the toxic effects of pollution itself. On the other.
