Monitoring atmospheric metal pollution: a review of the use of mosses as indicators.

This article reviews the literature on the use of mosses for monitoring atmospheric metal pollution. It discusses the nature of mosses, the mechanisms for moss uptake of metals from the air and wet precipitation, the various forms in which mosses are used for this purpose, and cases in which mosses have been used for monitoring local hot spots of pollution, and regional patterns of metal pollution. Also highlighted are the questions of uptake of metals from the substrates, interspecies differences, and a comparison of the effectiveness of mosses with other indicator materials, among other issues.