Heavy metal and nitrogen concentrations in mosses are declining across Europe whilst some “hotspots” remain in 2010

In recent decades, naturally growing mosses have been used successfully as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition of heavy metals and nitrogen. Since 1990, the European moss survey has been repeated at five-yearly intervals. In 2010, the lowest concentrations of metals and nitrogen in mosses were generally found in northern Europe, whereas the highest concentrations were observed in (south-)eastern Europe for metals and the central belt for nitrogen. Averaged across Europe, since 1990, the median concentration in mosses has declined the most for lead (77%), followed by vanadium (55%), cadmium (51%), chromium (43%), zinc (34%), nickel (33%), iron (27%), arsenic (21%, since 1995), mercury (14%, since 1995) and copper (11%). Between 2005 and 2010, the decline ranged from 6% for copper to 36% for lead; for nitrogen the decline was 5%. Despite the Europe-wide decline, no changes or increases have been observed between 2005 and 2010 in some (regions of) countries

Modelling spatial patterns of correlations between concentrations of heavy metals in mosses and atmospheric deposition in 2010 across Europe

BackgroundThis paper aims to investigate the correlations between the concentrations of nine heavy metals in moss and atmospheric deposition within ecological land classes covering Europe. Additionally, it is examined to what extent the statistical relations are affected by the land use around the moss sampling sites. Based on moss data collected in 2010/2011 throughout Europe and data on total atmospheric deposition modelled by two chemical transport models (EMEP MSC-E, LOTOS-EUROS), correlation coefficients between concentrations of heavy metals in moss and in modelled atmospheric deposition were specified for spatial subsamples defined by ecological land classes of Europe (ELCE) as a spatial reference system. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and logistic regression (LR) were then used to separate moss sampling sites regarding their contribution to the strength of correlation considering the areal percentage of urban, agricultural and forestry land use around the sampling location. After verification LDA models by LR, LDA models were used to transform spatial information on the land use to maps of potential correlation levels, applicable for future network planning in the European Moss Survey.ResultsCorrelations between concentrations of heavy metals in moss and in modelled atmospheric deposition were found to be specific for elements and ELCE units. Land use around the sampling sites mainly influences the correlation level. Small radiuses around the sampling sites examined (5km) are more relevant for Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn, while the areal percentage of urban and agricultural land use within large radiuses (75-100km) is more relevant for As, Cr, Hg, Pb, and V. Most valid LDA models pattern with error rates of <40% were found for As, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and V. Land use-dependent predictions of spatial patterns split up Europe into investigation areas revealing potentially high (=above-average) or low (=below-average) correlation coefficients.ConclusionsLDA is an eligible method identifying and ranking boundary conditions of correlations between atmospheric deposition and respective concentrations of heavy metals in moss and related mapping considering the influence of the land use around moss sampling sites

Lichens and mosses as biomonitors

A national survey was perfonned in 2001 in Slovenia in which two different biomonitors, namely an epiphytic lichen Hypogymnia physodes and the terrestrial mosses Hypnum cupressiforme and/or Pleurozium schreberi were collected at the same sampling locations all over the country and analysed for trace elements. The main aim was to find out if the both kinds of biomonitors give similar estimates of trace element air pollution. The preliminary results for some selected elements As, Cd, Cr, Hg, La, Sb, Sc, U and Zn showed significantly higher mean value of anthropogenic or atmophile elements (As, Cd, Hg and Zn) in lichens and only slightly higher lithophile or soil derived elements (Cr, La, Sc and U) in mosses

Arsenic accumulation and thiol status in lichens exposed to As(V) in controlled conditions

Thalli of epiphytic lichen Hypogymnia physodes (L.) Nyl. and terricolous Cladonia furcata (Huds.) Schrad., collected from an area with background arsenic concentrations, were exposed to 0, 0.1, 1 and 10 lg mL-1 arsenate (As(V)) solutions for 24 h. After exposure they were kept in the metabolically active state for 0, 24 and 48 h in a growth chamber. In the freeze dried samples glutathione (GSH), glutathione disulphide (GSSG), cysteine (Cys) and cystine were analysed and induction of phytochelatin (PC) synthesis measured by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography in combination with fluorescence detection or UV spectrometry. Total arsenic content in thalli was measured by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). In H. physodes, which contained higher amounts of arsenic compared to C. furcata, total glutathione content significantly decreased in samples exposed to 10 lg mL-1 As(V), whereas in C. furcata a significant increase was observed. In both species PC synthesis was induced in thalli exposed to 10 lg mL-1

Country-specific correlations across Europe between modelled atmospheric cadmium and lead deposition and concentrations in mosses

Previous analyses at the European scale have shown that cadmium and lead concentrations in mosses are primarily determined by the total deposition of these metals. Further analyses in the current study show that Spearman rank correlations between the concentration in mosses and the deposition modelled by the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) are country and metal-specific. Significant positive correlations were found for about two thirds or more of the participating countries in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005 (except for Cd in 1990). Correlations were often not significant and sometimes negative in countries where mosses were only sampled in a relatively small number of EMEP grids. Correlations frequently improved when only data for EMEP grids with at least three moss sampling sites per grid were included. It was concluded that spatial patterns and temporal trends agree reasonably well between lead and cadmium concentrations in mosses and modelled atmospheric deposition