Are cadmium, lead and mercury concentrations in mosses across Europe primarily determined by atmospheric deposition of these metals

• Published in: Journal of soils and sediments 2010-12, Vol.10 (8), p.1572-1584
• Main Authors: Schröder, Winfried, Holy, Marcel, Pesch, Roland, Harmens, Harry, Ilyin, Ilia, Steinnes, Eiliv, Alber, Renate, Aleksiayenak, Yuliya, Blum, Oleg, Coşkun, Mahmut, Dam, Maria, De Temmerman, Ludwig, Frolova, Marina, Frontasyeva, Marina, Miqueo, Laura Gonzalez, Grodzińska, Krystyna, Jeran, Zvonka, Korzekwa, Szymon, Krmar, Miodrag, Kubin, Eero, Kvietkus, Kestutis, Leblond, Sébastien, Liiv, Siiri, Magnússon, Sigurður, Maňkovská, Blanka, Piispanen, Juha, Rühling, Åke, Santamaria, Jesus, Spiric, Zdravko, Suchara, Ivan, Thöni, Lotti, Urumov, Viktor, Yurukova, Lilyana, Zechmeister, Harald G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atmosphere; Atmospheric chemistry; Biomonitoring; Cadmium; Chemical speciation; Correlation analysis; Correlation coefficient; Deposition; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Physics; Geographic information systems; Heavy metals; Lead; Mercury; Metal concentrations; Metals; Mosses; mosses and liverworts; Pollutant deposition; Remote sensing; Sec 5 • Soil and Landscape Ecology • Research Article; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Spatial analysis; Trees
• ISSN: 1439-0108; 1614-7480
• DOI: 10.1007/s11368-010-0254-y

Purpose This study aimed at investigating correlations between heavy metal concentrations in mosses and modelled deposition values as well as other site-specific and regional characteristics to determine which factors primarily affect cadmium, lead and mercury concentrations in mosses. The resulting relationships could potentially be used to enhance the spatial resolution of heavy metal deposition maps across Europe. Materials and methods Modelled heavy metal deposition data and data on the concentration of heavy metals in naturally growing mosses were integrated into a geographic information system and analysed by means of bivariate rank correlation analysis and multivariate decision trees. Modelled deposition data were validated annually with deposition measurements at up to 63 EMEP measurement stations within the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP), and mosses were collected at up to 7,000 sites at 5-year intervals between 1990 and 2005. Results and discussion Moderate to high correlations were found between cadmium and lead concentrations in mosses and modelled atmospheric deposition of these metals: Spearman rank correlation coefficients were between 0.62 and 0.67, and 0.67 and 0.73 for cadmium and lead, respectively (p