The Use of Mosses in Biomonitoring of Air Pollution in the Terrestrial Environment: A Review

Aneta Helena Baczewska-Dąbrowska; Barbara Gworek; Wojciech Dmuchowski

doi:10.2478/oszn-2023-0005

Figures & Tables

Examples of the use of live mosses in biomonitoring of air pollution

Air pollutant/deposition	Moss	Environment	Country	References
Native moss
8 elements	Hypnum cupressiforme	countryside	Albania	Qarri et al. 2019
Fe, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn	Hypnum cupressiforme	countryside	Albania	Lazo et al. 2022
37 elements	Multiple moss species	Pb-Zn smelter	Bułgaria	Hristozova et al. 2020
11 metals, N	Hylocomium splendens, Hypnum cupressiforme, Pseudoscleropodium purum	countryside	Europe, 15 countries	Harmens et al. 2015
12 metals	Grimmia pulvinata	cemeteries	France	Lequy et al. 2022
9 elements	Pseudocleropodium purum Hypnum cupressiforme	countryside	Kosowo	Maxhuni et al. 2016
6 elements	Pleurozium schreberi	countryside	Latvia	Tabors et al. 2023
35 elements	Hypnum cupressiforme	countryside	Moldova	Zinicovscaia et al. 2021
Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, V, Zn	Pleurozium schreberi, Scleropodium purum, Hypnum cupressiforme, Hylocomium splendens	countryside	Netherlands, Germany, Poland	Herpin et al. 1996
27 elements	Hypnum cupressiforme, Homalothecium lutescens, Homalothecium sericeum	countryside	North Macedonia	Barandovski et al. 2020
Cd, Pb	Pleurozium schreberi	industrial	Poland	Dmuchowski et al. 2011a
S, δ³⁴ S	Pleurozium schreberi	industrial	Poland	Kosior et al. 2015
PAHs	Pleurozium schreberi	Industrial,	Poland	Godzik et al. 2014
PBDEs, PCBs	Pleurozium schreberi	industrial	Poland	Kosior et al. 2017
17 elements	Pleurozium schreberi	countryside	Poland	Godzik 2020
Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb	Pleurozium schreberi	urban	Russia	Yushin et al. 2020
34 elements	Pleurozium schreberi	urban	Russia	Vergel et al. 2022
Pb isotopes, 7 metals	Hylocomium microphyllum	countryside	China	Zhou et al. 2021
Radionuclides: ²¹⁰Po,²¹⁰Pb, ²²⁶Ra,⁷Be,⁴⁰K,²²⁶Ra,²³⁸U,²³²T h,¹³⁷Cs	Leptobryum pyriforme, Ditrichum pallidum, Hypnodendron reinwardtii	highway, urban, industrial	China	Zhong et al. 2019
NO₃⁻	Leskeella nervosa	urban	Japan	Liu et al. 2012
NO₃⁻	Brachytheciun plumosum	mountain	Japan	Liu et al. 2012
Pb isotope ratios: ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb,²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb	Calohypnum plumiforme	countryside	Japan	Oishi 2022
Fe, Al	Calymperes afzelli, Acanthorrhynchium papillatum.	tropical forest	Malaysia	Baharuddin, Zuhairi 2021
30 elements	Barbula indica	urban	Vietnam	Doan Phan et al. 2018
Cr, Zn, Cd, Pb	Fabriona ciliaris, Leskea angustata	countryside, urban parks	Mexico	Macedo-Miranda et al. 2016
N compounds	Biaraun sp.	urban, oak forest	Mexico	Díaz-Álvarez et al. 2016
21 elements	Orthotrichum lyellii	industrial	USA	Jovan et al. 2021
22 elements	Orthotrichum lyellii	urban	USA	Comess et al. 2021
PAHs	Orthotrichum lyellii	urban	USA	Jovan et al. 2022
Live transplanted
S, δ³⁴ S	Pleurozium schreberi	industrial	Poland	Kosior, et al. 2015
PBDEs, PCBs	Pleurozium schreberi	industrial	Poland	Kosior, et al. 2017
7 elements	Pleurozium schreberi	zinc smelter	Poland	Kaczmarek et al. 2017
17 elements	Sphagnum palustre	urban	Poland	Astel, et al. 2008
survivability	Leucobryum glaucum	urban, forest	Malaysia	Yatim, Azman 2021
8 elements	Taxiphyllum giraldii, Thuidium sparsifolium	traffic	Nepal	Shakya et al., 2012
18 elements	moss	still mill	Nigeria	Olise et al. 2019
Al, Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn	Rhacocarpus purpurascens, Sphagnum sp., Thuidium delicatulum	urban	Equator	Benítez et al. 2021
As, Cd, Hg, Pb	Callicostella pallida, Versicularia versicularis, Isopterygium tenerum	traffic	Paraguay	Coronel-Teixeira et al. 2022

Examples of application of the moss-bag method in biomonitoring of air pollution

Air pollutant/deposition	Moss	Environment	Country	References
Pb	Hypnum cupressiforme	industrial	England	Goodman ans Roberts 1971
Cd, Pb, Zn	Sphagnum fallax	urban	Poland	Dmuchowski and Bytnerowicz 2009
18 elements	Hypnum cupressiforme	industrial	Italy	Tretiach et al. 2011
Cd, Pb	Sphagnum fallax	industrial	Poland	Dmuchowski et al. 2001a
Cd, Cr, Pb	Sphagnum fallax	still mill	Poland	Dmuchowski et al. 2011b
19 elements	Hypnum cupressiforme	urban	Italy	Giordano et al. 2013
Particulate matter	Sphagnum papillosum	industrial	Finland	Salo and Mäkinen 2014
PAHs*, 39 elements	Hypnum cupressiforme	urban	Italy	Capozzi et al. 2016a
10 elements	Pseudoscleropodium purum	agricultural, urban, industrial	Austria, Italy, Spain	Capozzi et al. 2016b
Sb, Cu, Cr	Sphagnum girgensohnii, Hypnum cupressiforme	urban	Serbia	Vuković et al. 2016
7 elements	Pleurozium ssp, Polytrichum ssp, Rhytidiadelphus ssp.	mining	Slovakia	Demková et al. 2017
Particulate matter, 23 elements	Pseudoscleropodium purum	agricultural, urban, industrial	Austria, Italy, Spain	Di Palma et al. 2017
9 elements	Sphagnum fallax, Dicranum polysetum	urban	Poland	Świsłowski et al. 2022
¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs	Hypnum cupressiforme, Hypnum plumaeforme	Fukushima breakdown	Japan	Di Palma et al. 2022
12 elements	Taxiphyllum taxirameum	agricultural, urban, traffic, industrial	China	Mao et el. 2022
Microplastic	Pleurozium schreberi	urban, traffic. rural	Canada	Bertrim and Aherne 2023
PAHs*	Hypnum plumaeforme	urban	Malysia	Hanifah and Sani 2023
35 elements	Hypnum cupressiforme, Sphagnum girgensohnii	urban, rural	Southeastern Europe, 10 countries	Urošević et al. 2023

Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of biological monitoring (compiled by authors)

Benefits	Disadvantages
Plants have a great ability to absorb and store pollutants	Plants absorb pollutants from the air and soil, which makes it difficult to interpret the results
Contaminants accumulated in plants or on their surface can be analysed by physical or chemical methods	The results of determining the content of pollutants in plants are not as precise as their measurements directly in the air
Plant research enables comprehensive and long-term measurements	Short-term fluctuations in the level of contamination distort the results
Plants can be used to identify sources of pollutant emissions, their dispersion and deposition	The need to use specific plant taxa
Relatively low cost
Possibility to select a large number of measuring points over a large area	Difficulties in finding a suitable taxon in the entire study area
The use of plants enables a real assessment of the state of pollution and threat	It is not possible to compare the results with legal environmental pollution standards
Independence from the source of energy in the field. No risk of equipment damage	The condition and condition of the indicator plant depends on many factors such as climate change, pathogens, etc.

Changes in (in %) the value of the median of elements contained in European mosses in the years 1990–2015 (100% content in 1995) (based on Frontasyeva et al_ 2020)

Element	Median changes
Al	− 24*
An	− 38*
As	−13
Cd	− 63
Cr	− 24
Cu	− 30
Fe	− 22
Pb	− 82
Hg	− 2**
Ni	− 25
V	− 57
Zn	− 23
N	− 1.5*

The Use of Mosses in Biomonitoring of Air Pollution in the Terrestrial Environment: A Review

Figures & Tables

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Examples of the use of live mosses in biomonitoring of air pollution

Examples of application of the moss-bag method in biomonitoring of air pollution

Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of biological monitoring (compiled by authors)

Changes in (in %) the value of the median of elements contained in European mosses in the years 1990–2015 (100% content in 1995) (based on Frontasyeva et al_ 2020)

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