Active biomonitoring with wet and dry moss: a case study in an urban area

Abstract

Active biomonitoring of the air quality in Belgrade, Serbia, was performed using the moss Sphagnum girgensohnii. Moss bags were exposed in parallel with and without irrigation for 3 and 6 months, respectively, at three different sites. Twenty-nine elements were determined in the exposed moss samples by INAA. For all exposure periods, higher uptake in the irrigated moss bags was evident for Al, Cr, Fe, Zn and Sr. Elements such as Cl, K, Rb and Cs were depleted in the moss tissue during the time of exposure. For most of the elements the accumulation after 6 months exceeded that observed after 3 months.

Active moss biomonitoring for extensive screening of urban air pollution: Magnetic and chemical analyses

“…At the end of May 2013, the moss Sphagnum girgensohnii Russow was collected from a pristine wetland area located near Dubna, Russian Federation (Aničić et al, 2009a(Aničić et al, , 2009b, whereas the moss H. cupressiforme Hedw. was collected in the protected area "Vršačke planine", Serbia (Frontasyeva et al, 2004).…”

“…Based on our previous studies conducted in different urban microenvironments (Aničić et al, 2009a;Vuković et al, 2013;, we consider RAF values higher than 0.5 to indicate slight elemental enrichment and values higher than 1 to indicate significant elemental enrichment in moss.…”

Monitoring of trace element atmospheric deposition using dry and wet moss bags: Accumulation capacity versus exposure time

“…Thus, the moss bags were exposed for ten consecutive 15-day periods. Different treatments, with and without irrigation, were applied to the exposed moss in parallel [20]. The bags were wetted by placing them on the top of a cellulose (100%) sponge with the bottom immersed in distilled water.…”

Moss Bag Preparation: A Low-Cost Technique in Monitoring Airborne Particulate and Toxic Elements

“…The use of dead moss is suitable in urban and industrial areas. The use of live moss is an active monitoring of air pollutants which provide spatial and temporal information on sources and deposition patterns of atmospheric contaminants [32].…”