Abstract
With the aim of further standardizing biomonitoring techniques with aquatic mosses, the relationship between the velocity of water flow and cadmium (Cd) accumulation in transplants of the moss Fontinalis antipyretica was investigated. For this purpose, moss transplants were exposed in a controlled aquatic environment to different concentrations of Cd (0, 4, 16 and 36 ng g−1) and different water velocities (10, 30, 50, 70 and 90 cm s−1). The Cd concentrations in the moss transplants mainly depended on the Cd concentration in the water, but a small fraction of the variance was explained by water velocity. The Cd concentrations in moss were standardized to remove the effect of the concentration in the water so all the data could be analyzed together. The regression model for the standardized concentrations explained 23% of the variance in Cd accumulation in F. antipyretica and water velocity proved to be a significant predictor of Cd accumulation.
Highlights
The pollution of inland water bodies by human activities exacerbates the difficulties experienced by many human populations in accessing safe drinking water, a problem that affects a third of the world’s population [1]
In recent years an important effort has been made towards standardizing biomonitoring techniques with aquatic mosses, other environmental factors that affect the relationship between the pollutant levels in the biomonitors and the water cannot be standardized
These factors include physicochemical parameters of the water, such as pH, temperature, dissolved organic matter, conductivity and velocity [9,10]. These factors affect the uptake of pollutants by aquatic mosses, in both passive and active biomonitoring
Summary
The pollution of inland water bodies by human activities exacerbates the difficulties experienced by many human populations in accessing safe drinking water, a problem that affects a third of the world’s population [1]. In recent years an important effort has been made towards standardizing biomonitoring techniques with aquatic mosses (see e.g., [6,8]), other environmental factors that affect the relationship between the pollutant levels in the biomonitors and the water cannot be standardized. These factors include physicochemical parameters of the water, such as pH, temperature, dissolved organic matter, conductivity and velocity [9,10]. These factors affect the uptake of pollutants by aquatic mosses, in both passive (collecting organisms living in the water body objective to the study) and active biomonitoring (collecting pieces of moss material, i.e., moss “transplants”, from unpolluted sites and exposing them in the study site, in the “moss bag technique”)
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