Recent Nitrogen Deposition In Poland Monitored With The Moss Pleurozium Schreberi

Abstract

Abstract In this study, atmospheric deposition of nitrogen was determined for Poland by moss biomonitoring. Nitrogen content was measured in the moss Pleurozium schreberi (Willd. ex Brid.) Mitt. sampled in 2010 from 320 sites evenly distributed throughout the country. Mosses (green parts) contained an average 1.56% nitrogen. The result places Poland among the European countries most polluted by airborne nitrogen. The highest nitrogen concentrations were found in mosses from the central and southern parts of the country, and the lowest in samples from some eastern and northern regions. Multiple regression showed that this variability was due mostly to nitrogen emissions from agricultural and industrial areas (moss nitrogen was positively associated with the consumption of mineral nitrogen fertilizers and the magnitude of particulate pollution). Some details of the spatial variability of the nitrogen data indicate that local and regional point sources of pollution (e.g., chemical plants) played an important role in shaping the nitrogen deposition pattern