and the participants of the, European moss survey

Fagerli, Hilde

Harmens, Harry

Holy, Marcel

Ilyin, Ilia

Pesch, Roland

Schröder, Winfried

English

NERC Open Research Archive

   Conference or Workshop Item   Holy, Marcel; Pesch, Roland; Schröder, Winfried; Harmens, Harry; Fagerli, Hilde; Ilyin, Ilia; and the participants of the, European Moss Survey. 2009.  First Europe-wide correlation analysis of factors affecting the total nitrogen and heavy metal concentration in mosses including deposition values.  In: Annual symposium of the working group on Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology of the German Chemical Society, Trier, Germany, 23 – 25 Sept 2009.     This version available at http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/8671/    NERC has developed NORA to enable users to access research outputs wholly or partially funded by NERC. Copyright and other rights for material on this site are retained by the authors and/or other rights owners. Users should read the terms and conditions of use of this material at http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/policies.html#access                            Contact CEH NORA team at  noraceh@ceh.ac.uk   The NERC and CEH  trade marks and logos (‘the Trademarks’) are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner.  First Europe-wide correlation analysis of factors affecting the total nitrogen and heavy metal concentration in mosses including deposition values  Marcel Holy, University of Vechta Dr. Roland Pesch, University of Vechta (correspondence) Prof. Dr. Winfried Schröder, University of Vechta, POB 1553, 49364 Vechta Dr. Harry Harmens, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, United Kingdom Dr. Hilde Fagerli, Research and Development Department, Norwegian Meteorological  Institute, Oslo, Norway Dr. Ilia Ilyin, Meteorological Synthesizing Centre East of EMEP, Moscow, Russia and the participants of the European Moss Surveys  This study aimed at investigating the correlations between nitrogen (N) depositions and air concentrations and heavy metal depositions and element concentrations in mosses collected across Europe to quantitatively characterise the indicative value of mosses as biomonitors of HM and N deposition. Correlations between the total N and HM concen-trations in mosses and atmospheric HM and N depositions and air concentrations were examined for the first time at a European scale. In addition to the deposition values, predictors such as urban and agricultural land uses, population and livestock density were integrated in the analyses to account for emission-related influences. The total N concentrations in mosses were determined at 2781 (2005/6) and the HM concentra-tions up to 7000 sites (1990, 1995, 2000, 2005) across Europe. Modelled atmospheric N and HM deposition and air concentration data were calculated using the Unified Model of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) of the Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution Convention. The modelled deposition and air con-centration data encompass the metal elements Cd, Hg and Pb as well as several N compounds. Spearman rank correlation analysis and Classification and Regression Trees (CART) were applied.   The Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the total N concentration in mosses and modelled N depositions and air concentrations are significantly associated (0.53 ≤ rs ≤ 0.69, p < 0.01). Correlations with other predictors were lower than 0.55. Concerning the metal elements, the calculations corroborated that modelled atmos-pheric Cd deposition and Cd concentrations in mosses were correlated (0.62 ≤ rs ≤ 0.69, p < 0.01). The correlation coefficients for Pb were between 0.67 and 0.73 (p < 0.01). Hg deposition and concentrations in mosses were correlated at a much lower level (0.09 ≤ rs ≤ 0.24, p < 0.01). Multivariate correlation analyses showed that the Cd and Pb concentrations in mosses were mainly affected by depositions, emissions and urban land use around the sampling sites. Regarding Hg, in addition to these factors the moss species and analytical methods were found to be relevant. The CART analy-sis indicated that the variation in the total N concentration in mosses could be mainly explained by the variation in dry deposition of oxidised N, total dry N deposition as well as the livestock density and the ratio of urban land use around the sampling sites. Therefore, the total N concentration in mosses appears to mirror land use-related at-mospheric N deposition across Europe to a high degree. The heavy metal and total N concentration in mosses is a valuable tool in identifying areas at risk from high atmos-pheric heavy metal and N deposition at a high spatial resolution. 

First Europe-wide correlation analysis of factors affecting the total nitrogen and heavy metal concentration in mosses including deposition values

http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/8671/2/HolyN008671CP.pdf

First Europe-wide correlation analysis of factors affecting the total nitrogen and heavy metal concentration in mosses including deposition values

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