Abstract: Non-vascular cryptogams, particularly bryophytes and lichens have been an important tool in the research of response and indicator to the global change because they are found in various habitats, their distributions as individual/population/community are stable on a small-scale, and they are sensitive to environmental changes. The monitoring indices includes:(1)biomass of the species, abundance and diversity index of species;(2)correlation between certain element accumulation level within individual plant and the content of the element in the environment;(3)environment-induced changes in cell metabolic rate, photosynthetic rate and pigment content, and enzyme activities and concentrations;(4)integrated correlations between environmental factors and eco-physiological variables of monitored species and established monitoring models. However, responses of different species to environment changes were different. Research is needed in choosing suitable species for biomonitoring and the corresponding criteria, as well as in establishing reliable “specific pollutant-specific monitoring species-monitoring index” system.