During the last five years, the Working Group for Ecology of the Italian Lichen Society has focused its activities on the development of a protocol for the relocation of Lobaria pulmonaria L. (Hoffm.). The background was offered in 2016 by a legal logging for timber in a Mediterranean oak wood forest, that damaged a large population of L. pulmonaria. Whole thalli and thallus fragments fallen to the ground or remained on the cut trunks, have been collected and used for this research. A long-term monitoring campaign on the effectiveness of transplantation was carried out in one of the main habitats in Mediterranean ecosystems, i.e., logged and unlogged oak forests. At the same time, the effectiveness of transplants was tested in areas with different levels of air pollution - one of the main causes of its disappearance in Central Europe - comparing the results of transplants located in Italian areas that already host native and in the Western Carpathians, in areas where the species occurred in the past, but is currently extinct. Chlorophyll a fluorescence emission and total chlorophylls are used as a proxy for the overall vitality of the transplants, while their growth is considered as an indicator of long-term effects. Our results outline the potential for meristematic fragments under suitable growth conditions in oaks forest (remote areas, unlogged stands, north side of the trunk, at about 100 cm from the ground) for maintaining vital thalli of L. pulmonaria and a 3-year survival rate of 62 percent after translocation. Regenerative lobules on meristematic fragments were also observed, even on the lower surface of the thallus. In a few cases, newly formed individuals were observed after four years.
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