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Harmens H, Norris DA, Sharps K, Mills G, Alber R, Aleksiayenak Y, Blum O, Cucu-Man SM, Dam M, De Temmerman L, Ene A, Fernández JA, Martinez-Abaigar J, Frontasyeva M, Godzik B, Jeran Z, Lazo P, Leblond S, Liiv S, Magnússon SH, Maňkovská B, Karlsson GP, Piispanen J, Poikolainen J, Santamaria JM, Skudnik M, Spiric Z, Stafilov T, Steinnes E, Stihi C, Suchara I, Thöni L, Todoran R, Yurukova L, Zechmeister HG. Heavy metal and nitrogen concentrations in mosses are declining across Europe whilst some "hotspots" remain in 2010. Environ Pollut 2015; 200:93-104. [PMID: 25703579 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2015.01.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2014] [Revised: 01/24/2015] [Accepted: 01/27/2015] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Harmens
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK.
| | - D A Norris
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK.
| | - K Sharps
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK.
| | - G Mills
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK.
| | - R Alber
- Environmental Agency of Bolzano, Laives, Italy.
| | - Y Aleksiayenak
- International Sakharov Environmental University, Minsk, Belarus.
| | - O Blum
- National Botanical Garden, Academy of Science of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine.
| | - S-M Cucu-Man
- Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania.
| | - M Dam
- Environment Agency, Argir, Faroe Islands.
| | - L De Temmerman
- Veterinary and Agrochemical Research Centre, Tervuren, Belgium.
| | - A Ene
- Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Galati, Romania.
| | - J A Fernández
- University of Santiago de Compestela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
| | | | - M Frontasyeva
- Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russian Federation.
| | - B Godzik
- W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland.
| | - Z Jeran
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
| | - P Lazo
- University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania.
| | - S Leblond
- Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
| | - S Liiv
- Tallinn Botanic Garden, Tallinn, Estonia.
| | | | - B Maňkovská
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Science, Bratislava, Slovakia.
| | - G Pihl Karlsson
- IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Gothenburg, Sweden.
| | - J Piispanen
- Finnish Forest Research Institute, Oulu Research Unit, Oulu, Finland.
| | - J Poikolainen
- Finnish Forest Research Institute, Oulu Research Unit, Oulu, Finland.
| | | | - M Skudnik
- Slovenian Forestry Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
| | - Z Spiric
- Oikon Ltd., Institute for Applied Ecology, Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - T Stafilov
- Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
| | - E Steinnes
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
| | - C Stihi
- Valahia University of Targoviste, Targoviste, Romania.
| | - I Suchara
- Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, Pruhonice, Czech Republic.
| | - L Thöni
- FUB-Research Group for Environmental Monitoring, Rapperswil, Switzerland.
| | - R Todoran
- Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Baia Mare, Romania.
| | - L Yurukova
- Institute of Botany, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
| | - H G Zechmeister
- University of Vienna, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, Vienna, Austria.
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Harmens H, Ilyin I, Mills G, Aboal JR, Alber R, Blum O, Coşkun M, De Temmerman L, Fernández JÁ, Figueira R, Frontasyeva M, Godzik B, Goltsova N, Jeran Z, Korzekwa S, Kubin E, Kvietkus K, Leblond S, Liiv S, Magnússon SH, Maňkovská B, Nikodemus O, Pesch R, Poikolainen J, Radnović D, Rühling A, Santamaria JM, Schröder W, Spiric Z, Stafilov T, Steinnes E, Suchara I, Tabors G, Thöni L, Turcsányi G, Yurukova L, Zechmeister HG. Country-specific correlations across Europe between modelled atmospheric cadmium and lead deposition and concentrations in mosses. Environ Pollut 2012; 166:1-9. [PMID: 22459708 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2012.02.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2012] [Revised: 02/21/2012] [Accepted: 02/25/2012] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Harmens
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK.
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Harmens H, Norris DA, Cooper DM, Mills G, Steinnes E, Kubin E, Thöni L, Aboal JR, Alber R, Carballeira A, Coşkun M, De Temmerman L, Frolova M, González-Miqueo L, Jeran Z, Leblond S, Liiv S, Maňkovská B, Pesch R, Poikolainen J, Rühling A, Santamaria JM, Simonèiè P, Schröder W, Suchara I, Yurukova L, Zechmeister HG. Nitrogen concentrations in mosses indicate the spatial distribution of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in Europe. Environ Pollut 2011; 159:2852-2860. [PMID: 21620544 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2011.04.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2010] [Revised: 04/21/2011] [Accepted: 04/29/2011] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
In 2005/6, nearly 3000 moss samples from (semi-)natural location across 16 European countries were collected for nitrogen analysis. The lowest total nitrogen concentrations in mosses (<0.8%) were observed in northern Finland and northern UK. The highest concentrations (≥ 1.6%) were found in parts of Belgium, France, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. The asymptotic relationship between the nitrogen concentrations in mosses and EMEP modelled nitrogen deposition (averaged per 50 km × 50 km grid) across Europe showed less scatter when there were at least five moss sampling sites per grid. Factors potentially contributing to the scatter are discussed. In Switzerland, a strong (r(2) = 0.91) linear relationship was found between the total nitrogen concentration in mosses and measured site-specific bulk nitrogen deposition rates. The total nitrogen concentrations in mosses complement deposition measurements, helping to identify areas in Europe at risk from high nitrogen deposition at a high spatial resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Harmens
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK.
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Harmens H, Norris DA, Steinnes E, Kubin E, Piispanen J, Alber R, Aleksiayenak Y, Blum O, Coşkun M, Dam M, De Temmerman L, Fernández JA, Frolova M, Frontasyeva M, González-Miqueo L, Grodzińska K, Jeran Z, Korzekwa S, Krmar M, Kvietkus K, Leblond S, Liiv S, Magnússon SH, Mankovská B, Pesch R, Rühling A, Santamaria JM, Schröder W, Spiric Z, Suchara I, Thöni L, Urumov V, Yurukova L, Zechmeister HG. Mosses as biomonitors of atmospheric heavy metal deposition: spatial patterns and temporal trends in Europe. Environ Pollut 2010; 158:3144-56. [PMID: 20674112 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2010.06.039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2010] [Revised: 06/18/2010] [Accepted: 06/29/2010] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
In recent decades, mosses have been used successfully as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition of heavy metals. Since 1990, the European moss survey has been repeated at five-yearly intervals. Although spatial patterns were metal-specific, in 2005 the lowest concentrations of metals in mosses were generally found in Scandinavia, the Baltic States and northern parts of the UK; the highest concentrations were generally found in Belgium and south-eastern Europe. The recent decline in emission and subsequent deposition of heavy metals across Europe has resulted in a decrease in the heavy metal concentration in mosses for the majority of metals. Since 1990, the concentration in mosses has declined the most for arsenic, cadmium, iron, lead and vanadium (52-72%), followed by copper, nickel and zinc (20-30%), with no significant reduction being observed for mercury (12% since 1995) and chromium (2%). However, temporal trends were country-specific with sometimes increases being found.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Harmens
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK.
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