Abstract
Metals deposited into ecosystems are non-degradable and become one of the major toxic agents which accumulate in habitats. Thus, their concentration requires precise monitoring. To evaluate pollution around a chlor-alkali plant, a glass smelter, two power plants and a ceramic and porcelain factory, we selected terrestrial mosses with different life forms: the orthotropic and endohydric Polytrichum commune and plagiotropic and ectohydric Pleurozium schreberi. Metal concentrations were determined in both species growing together at sites situated at various distances approximately 0.75, 1.5, 3 and 6 km from polluters. MARS analysis evaluated different tendencies of both species for Cd, Co and Pb accumulation depending on the distance from the emitter. In P. schreberi, the concentration of these metals diminished relatively rapidly with an increasing distance from the emitter up to 3000 m and then stabilised. For P. commune, a steady decrease could be observed with increasing the distance up to 6000 m. PCCA ordination explained that both species from the vicinity of the chlor-alkali plant were correlated with the highest Co, Cr, Cu, Fe and Pb as well as Mn and Ni concentrations in their tissues. The mosses from sites closest to both power plants were correlated with the highest Cd and Zn concentrations. P. commune contained significantly higher Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn concentrations compared to P. schreberi. This may be caused by the lamellae found in the leaves of P. commune which increase the surface area of the possible aerial absorption of contaminants. Soil may also be an additional source of metals, and it affects the uptake in endohydric P. commune more than in ectohydric P. schreberi. However, the precise explanation of these relations needs further investigation.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11356-016-6278-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Metals introduced into ecosystems usually have the potential of disturbing their chemical balance (Kabata-Pendias 2001; Pająk and Jasik 2011)
The metal concentrations in P. schreberi and P. commune are shown in Tables 1 and 2, ESM 4–8
The vicinity of the chlor-alkali plant was polluted with Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Pb as well as Mn and Ni, which was reflected in the elevated concentration of these metals in the locally growing P. commune and P. schreberi
Summary
Metals introduced into ecosystems usually have the potential of disturbing their chemical balance (Kabata-Pendias 2001; Pająk and Jasik 2011). Once deposited, they are nondecomposable and become incorporated in habitats (KabataPendias 2001; Sardans and Peñuelas 2005). As a result of trace element emissions many soils remain polluted, which affects all food chains (Shotbolt et al 2007). The concentration of these xenobiotics in the environment requires accurate monitoring. Bryophytes, used for the first time by Rühling and Tyler (1968), have been known as very useful accumulative bioindicators able to identify distribution trends of metals in the environment (Markert et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res (2016) 23:11100–11108
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