Perspective of mitigating atmospheric heavy metal pollution: using mosses as biomonitoring and indicator organism

Mosses were proved as an ideal and reliable biomonitor as well as an indicator of atmospheric trace metal pollution. They are used as model indicator species of air pollution since long back due to their simple structure, genetic diversity, totipotency, rapid colony-forming ability, and high metal resistance behavior. Bryomonitoring technique is gradually being popularized as an economically viable procedure for estimating the degrees of environmental health and evaluating the toxic pollutants in biosphere. Thus, in the present scenario, many parts of the world use these organisms for monitoring the air pollution. This article describes an overview of the relationship of terrestrial mosses with trace metals with respect to their uptake, accumulation, and toxification as well as detoxification and tolerance mechanisms. The review article explicitly expresses the caliber of the cryptogamic mosses in establishing the pristine environment around the world. It also highlights the underpinning mechanisms and potential for future research directions. We have referred more than 250 articles, which deals with the assessment and impact of different heavy metals on 52 numbers of different moss species belongs to different climatic zones. The present review covers the research work in this area carried out worldwide since 1965.

Content of Zinc and Copper in Selected Plants Growing Along a Motorway

In 2011 a study was carried out analyzing the effects of road traffic on bioaccumulation of zinc and copper in selected species of dicotyledonous plants growing on adjacent grasslands. To do the research the plants were sampled from the 9-km-long Siedlce bypass, a part of the international route E-30. They were collected during the flowering stage, at following distances from the road: 1, 5, 10, 15 m. The content of zinc and copper was determined with the AAS method, with dry mineralisation done before. The highest concentration of the elements, regardless of the distance from the road, was found in Taraxacum spec. Among the tested plants, the lowest zinc content was in Vicia cracca, and the lowest copper content in Rumex acetosa. The limit for copper content was exceeded in Taraxacum spec. and, slightly, in Achillea millefolium growing at the roadside, closest to the roadway.