Influence of the physicochemical characteristics of pollutants on their uptake in moss

Trace element concentrations in the moss Hypnum cupressiforme growing in a presumably unpolluted area

“…This hypothesis is clearly supported by previous findings, i.e. the element concentrations in mosses were more closely related to physicochemical characteristics of both pollutants and moss tissues than to the atmospheric inputs (Varela et al, 2015).…”

“…The moss samples were preferentially collected in open areas and otherwise in forest clearings as far as possible from trees. At each SS, around 30 subsamples of similar weight and uniformly distributed over an area of approximately 30 Â 30 m were collected and combined into a composite sample (Fern andez et al, 2015). For each survey, sampling was carried out twice a year (April and October) and the composite samples from each SS were further combined into single (yearly) samples to improve their temporal representativeness (Couto et al, 2003).…”

“…smelters, refining plants and power plants. However, apart from the previously mentioned study (Varela et al, 2015), we do not know of any studies in which FA has been applied to regionalscale data obtained in areas free of pollution sources.…”

“…However, the bioaccumulation of elements in moss tissues not only depends on the atmospheric concentrations of contaminants, but also on other factors that affect the amount of pollutants that reach the mosses (e.g. elevation, topography of the sampling site and vegetation cover: Fern andez et al, 2015) and the uptake of pollutants by these organisms (e.g. physicochemical characteristics of the pollutants, physiological processes in mosses: Aboal et al, 2010).…”

“…physicochemical characteristics of the pollutants, physiological processes in mosses: Aboal et al, 2010). In a recent study carried out by our research group, factor analysis (FA) was used to identify patterns of covariance in the accumulation of elements in moss tissues in unpolluted and polluted sites (Varela et al, 2015). The findings demonstrated that the variations in the concentrations of elements in moss samples are more closely related to the physicochemical characteristics of the pollutants and of the moss tissues than to the atmospheric inputs, and it was concluded that the origin of the pollutants was not the underlying factor explaining the relationships between the heavy metals studied (op.…”