Survey of heavy metal deposition in Poland using mosses as indicators

Abstract

Concentration of heavy metals in the feather moss Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt., a common moss species, were used to indicate relative levels of air pollution by seven heavy metals: Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn in Poland. Pleurozium was sampled from 297 localities regularly distributed throughout the country. Significant differences in heavy metal levels in Pleurozium which are representative of particular localities were found. The highest concentrations were recorded in the moss samples from the southern and most industrialized part of the country, the lowest from northern and north-eastern Poland. A comparison of data obtained from identical localities in Poland (1990, 1995) showed a significant decrease in the concentrations of heavy metals in Pleurozium between 1990 and 1995. The decrease over 20 years (1975–1995) in 12 national parks which are fairly evenly distributed over an area of Poland was even more evident. The heavy metal concentrations found in mosses of Poland in the mid 1990s were generally similar to those reported from other countries of central Europe.