Peatland Microbial Communities as Indicators of the Extreme Atmospheric Dust Deposition.

We investigated a peat profile from the Izery Mountains, located within the so-called Black Triangle, the border area of Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany. This peatland suffered from an extreme atmospheric pollution during the last 50 years, which created an exceptional natural experiment to examine the impact of pollution on peatland microbes. Testate amoebae (TA), Centropyxis aerophila and Phryganella acropodia, were distinguished as a proxy of atmospheric pollution caused by extensive brown coal combustion. We recorded a decline of mixotrophic TA and development of agglutinated taxa as a response for the extreme concentration of Al (30 g kg-1) and Cu (96 mg kg-1) as well as the extreme amount of fly ash particles determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, which were used by TA for shell construction. Titanium (5.9 %), aluminum (4.7 %), and chromium (4.2 %) significantly explained the highest percentage of the variance in TA data. Elements such as Al, Ti, Cr, Ni, and Cu were highly correlated (r > 0.7, p < 0.01) with pseudostome position/body size ratio and pseudostome position. Changes in the community structure, functional diversity, and mechanisms of shell construction were recognized as the indicators of dust pollution. We strengthen the importance of the TA as the bioindicators of the recent atmospheric pollution.

Spatiotemporal distribution of airborne elements monitored with the moss bags technique in the Greater Thriasion Plain, Attica, Greece.

The well-known moss bags technique was applied in the heavily polluted Thriasion Plain region, Attica, Greece, in order to study the spatiotemporal distribution, in the atmosphere, of the following 32 elements: Na, Al, Cl, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Co, Zn, As, Se, Br, Sr, Mo, Sb, I, Ba, La, Ce, Sm, Tb, Dy, Yb, Hf, Ta, Hg, Th, and U. The moss bags were constituted of Sphagnum girgensohnii materials. The bags were exposed to ambient air in a network of 12 monitoring stations scattered throughout the monitoring area. In order to explore the temporal variation of the pollutants, four sets of moss bags were exposed for 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Instrumental neutral activation analysis was used for the determinations of the elements. The data were analyzed using the Pearson correlations, the partial redundancy analysis, and the biplot statistical methods. Some pairs of elements were highly correlated indicating a probable common source of origin. The levels of the measured pollutants were unevenly distributed throughout the area and different pollutants exhibited different spatial patterns. In general, higher loads were observed in the stations close to and within the industrial zone. Most of the measured elements (e.g., Al, Ca, Ni, I, Zn, Cr, and As) exhibited a monotonic accumulation trend over time. Some elements exhibited different dynamics. The elements Mn, Mo, and Hg showed a decreasing trend, probably due to leaching and/or volatilization processes over time. Na and Br initially showed an increasing trend during the winter and early spring periods but decreased drastically during the late warm period. The results further suggest that the moss bags technique would be considered valuable for the majority of elements but should be used with caution in the cases of elements vulnerable to leaching and/or volatilization. It also suggests that the timing and the duration of the exposure of moss materials should be considered in the interpretation of the results.

Trace element contamination in industrial regions of Poland studied by moss monitoring.

The use of terrestrial mosses as biomonitors in large-scale multi-element studies of heavy metal deposition from the atmosphere is a well established technique in Europe. In such studies it is advantageous to determine as many elements as possible in order to distinguish between different source categories. A combination of INAA and AAS has been found very useful in this respect, in particular when epithermal activation is used for instrumental neutron activation analysis. A total of 33 elements (Al, Cl, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Rb, Sr, Ag, Cd, Sb, I, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Tb, Yb, Hf, Ta, W, Au, Pb, Th, and U) in Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. moss samples from the Silesia-Kraków Industrial Region and Legnica-Glogów Copper Basin and from the control (background) area in Northeast Poland were identified. The highest concentrations of the majority of trace elements were found in mosses growing in the Silesia-Kraków Industrial Region, only Cu and As concentrations were higher in mosses in the Legnica-Glogów Copper Basin. These results are in conformity with the load of trace elements emissions in these areas.