title: Relationship between site-specific nitrogen concentrations in mosses and measured wet bulk atmospheric nitrogen deposition across Europe.
abstract: To assess the relationship between nitrogen concentrations in mosses and wet bulk nitrogen deposition or concentrations in precipitation, moss tissue and deposition were sampled within a distance of 1 km of each other in seven European countries. Relationships for various forms of nitrogen appeared to be asymptotic, with data for different countries being positioned at different locations along the asymptotic relationship and saturation occurring at a wet bulk nitrogen deposition of ca. 20 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1). The asymptotic behaviour was more pronounced for ammonium-N than nitrate-N, with high ammonium deposition at German sites being most influential in providing evidence of the asymptotic behaviour. Within countries, relationships were only significant for Finland and Switzerland and were more or less linear. The results confirm previous relationships described for modelled total deposition. Nitrogen concentration in mosses can be applied to identify areas at risk of high nitrogen deposition at European scale.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK. Electronic address: hh@ceh.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harmens
authors.affiliation: FUB-Research Group for Environmental Monitoring, Alte Jonastrasse 83, CH-8640 Rapperswil, Switzerland (1).
authors.forename: Elvira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schnyder
authors.affiliation: FUB-Research Group for Environmental Monitoring, Alte Jonastrasse 83, CH-8640 Rapperswil, Switzerland (1).
authors.forename: Lotti
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thöni
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK. Electronic address: cooper@ceh.ac.uk.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK. Electronic address: gmi@ceh.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.affiliation: Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier, Case 39, 75005 Paris, France. Electronic address: sleblond@mnhn.fr.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leblond
authors.affiliation: Landwirtschaftskammer Niedersachsen, Mars-la-Tour Str. 1-13, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany. Electronic address: Karsten.Mohr@LWK-Niedersachsen.de.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mohr
authors.affiliation: Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 413, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland. Electronic address: jarmo.poikolainen@metla.fi.
authors.forename: Jarmo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poikolainen
authors.affiliation: University of Navarra, Irunlarrea No 1, 31008 Pamplona, Spain. Electronic address: chusmi@unav.es.
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santamaria
authors.affiliation: Slovenian Forestry Institute, Vecna pot 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: mitja.skudnik@gozdis.si.
authors.forename: Mitja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skudnik
authors.affiliation: University of Vienna, CVL, Rennweg 14, 1020 Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: Harald.Zechmeister@univie.ac.at.
authors.forename: Harald G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Zechmeister
authors.affiliation: Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland. Electronic address: antti.lindroos@metla.fi.
authors.forename: Antti-Jussi
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lindroos
authors.affiliation: Umweltbundesamt, Spittelauer Lände 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: andrea.hanus-illnar@umweltbundesamt.at.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hanus-Illnar
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D044002:Bryophyta / Q000737:chemistry*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005060:Europe; D009566:Nitrates / Q000032:analysis; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D011891:Rain
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D009566:Nitrates; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Ammonium; Biomonitoring; Bulk nitrogen deposition; Moss survey; Nitrate