Air pollution study in Macedonia using a moss biomonitoring technique, ICP-AES and AAS

Abstract

In the framework of the International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE-ICP Vegetation) Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP), in 2002 and 2005, a moss biomonitoring technique was applied to air pollution studies in the Republic of Macedonia. The third moss survey took place in August and September 2010 when 72 samples of the terrestrial mosses Homalothecium lutescens and Hypnum cupressiforme were collected over the territory of the Republic of Macedonia, using the same sampling network grid as for the previous surveys. Using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), a total of 18 elements (Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Ni, P, Pb, Sr, V and Zn) were determined. To reveal hidden multivariate data structures and to identify and characterize different pollution sources, Principal Component Analysis was used. Distributional maps were prepared to point out the regions most affected by pollution and related to known sources of contamination. As in the previous surveys, the regions near the towns of Skopje, Veles, Tetovo, Radoviš and Kavadarci were found to be most affected by pollution, even though the median elemental content in the mosses in 2010 for Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn was slightly lower than in the previous surveys. For the first time, P content in the moss samples was analyzed, and a higher content of this element as well as K in the mosses was observed in the agricultural regions of the country.

Moss and Lichen Biomonitoring of Atmospheric Pollution in the Western Cape Province (South Africa)

“…These elements indicate contamination of the analysed samples with crustal material attached to the moss and lichen samples. Another potential source of these elements is fly-ash particles produced by processes such as coal burning, which may have a major chemical element composition similar to crustal material [10] [55] [56]. This suggests Distell and Killarney brickfields (Pty) Ltd. plants (both in Stellenbosch) as pollution sources due to heavy fuel oils and coals used by boilers in the manufacturing processes.…”

Assessing the Presence of Heavy Metals in the Area of Glloogoc (Kosovo) by Using Mosses as a Bioindicator for Heavy Metals

“…Submasters are mixed, forming the representative sample of each station. The samples collected were cleared in advance from foreign materials such as; soil, mix other lichens or mosses, herbs, leaves, trees or other, [Barandovski et al, 2013]. They were then put in paper envelopes and sent to the lab for further processing.…”

“…The main possible pollution source in this area, i.e. the Ferronickel complex, performs the technological processing of the Fe-Ni containing ore; thereby, it produces large amounts of waste that contains heavy metals and other compounds [Barandovski et al, 2013]. The inorganic parts of these pollutants are largely released into the atmosphere, not only by the Ferronickel complex but also as a result of other human industrial activities [Nriagu and Pacyna 2001].…”

Elemental composition of moss and lichen species in eastern Serbia

“…As a re sult of their lower emis sions and de po sitions across Eu rope, a gen eral de crease in con cen trations of el e ments of spe cial in ter est in mosses in Europe since 1990 has been found [41,47]. For ex am ple, the larg est de crease in the me dian con cen tra tion in mosses since 1990 were re ported for lead (77 %), vana dium (55 %), and cad mium (51 %), fol lowed by a de cline of less than 50 % in chro mium, zinc, nickel, iron and cop per [41].…”