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 pollut...

In the years 1995 and 1996 the atmospheric deposition of elements in the EuroRegion Neisse (ERN) was determined in a biomonitoring project using mosses. The mosses Pleurozium schreberi and Polytrichum formosum were chosen as biomonitors because of their wide distribution in the area studied. The moss samples were analysed by ICP-MS and ICP-OES for their concentrations of 37 chemical elements. T...

Bryophytes, including the mosses, liverworts, and hornworts, occur in a variety of habitats with high concentrations of metals and have other characteristics that are advantageous for studies of metal tolerance. Mosses may evolve genetically specialized, metal-tolerant races less frequently than flowering plants. Some species of mosses appear to have inherently high levels of metal tolerance ev...

Worldwide there is concern about the continuing release of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) into the environment. In this study we review the application of mosses as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition of POPs. Examples in the literature show that mosses are suitable organisms to monitor spatial patterns and temporal trends of atmospheric concentrations or deposition of POPs. These examp...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants known to be hazardous to human health. Pine needles and mosses are useful bio-indicators for assessing PAH pollutions; however, the differences in their PAH uptake mechanisms have not been sufficiently discussed. In this study, the properties of pine needles and mosses as bio-indicators of PAHs were investigated o...

It is known that Sphagnum associated methanotrophy (SAM) changes in relation to the peatland water table (WT) level. After drought, rising WT is able to reactivate SAM. We aimed to reveal whether this reactivation is due to activation of indigenous methane (CH(4)) oxidizing bacteria (MOB) already present in the mosses or to MOB present in water. This was tested through two approaches: in a tran...

With over 12,000 species recognized worldwide (M. R. Crosby et al. 1999), the Bryophyta, or mosses, are the most speciose of the three phyla of bryophytes. The other two phyla are Marchantiophyta or liverworts and Anthocerotophyta or hornworts. The term “bryophytes” is a general, inclusive term for these three groups though they are only superficially related. Mosses are widely distributed from...

Lichens and mosses often share the same environmental conditions where they compete for substrate and other essential factors. Lichens use secondary metabolites as allelochemicals to repel surrounding plants and potential rivals. In mosses, endoreduplication leads to the occurrence of various ploidy levels in the same individual and has been suggested as an adaptation to abiotic stresses. Here,...

Mosses are widespread vegetations on the ground layer level in boreal forests. They play important roles in productivity, soil hydroclimate regulation and nutrient cycling in the ecosystem. The Polytrichum mosses are desiccation-tolerant and have two physiological states: a hydrated state and a desiccated state. The physiological features and growth rates of mosses differ in different states. M...

This study aimed at cross-border mapping metal loads in mosses in eight European countries in 1990, 1995, and 2000 and at investigating confounding factors. Geostatistics was used for mapping, indicating high local variances but clear spatial autocorrelations. Inference statistics identified differences of metal concentrations in mosses on both sides of the national borders. However, geostatist...