title: Heavy metal and nitrogen concentrations in mosses are declining across Europe whilst some "hotspots" remain in 2010.
abstract: In recent decades, naturally growing mosses have been used successfully as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition of heavy metals and nitrogen. Since 1990, the European moss survey has been repeated at five-yearly intervals. In 2010, the lowest concentrations of metals and nitrogen in mosses were generally found in northern Europe, whereas the highest concentrations were observed in (south-)eastern Europe for metals and the central belt for nitrogen. Averaged across Europe, since 1990, the median concentration in mosses has declined the most for lead (77%), followed by vanadium (55%), cadmium (51%), chromium (43%), zinc (34%), nickel (33%), iron (27%), arsenic (21%, since 1995), mercury (14%, since 1995) and copper (11%). Between 2005 and 2010, the decline ranged from 6% for copper to 36% for lead; for nitrogen the decline was 5%. Despite the Europe-wide decline, no changes or increases have been observed between 2005 and 2010 in some (regions of) countries.
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mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044002:Bryophyta / Q000737:chemistry*; D002104:Cadmium / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005060:Europe; D007501:Iron; D008628:Mercury; D008670:Metals; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D009532:Nickel; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D008670:Metals; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D002104:Cadmium; D009532:Nickel; D007501:Iron; D008628:Mercury; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Biomonitoring; EMEP maps; Heavy metals; Moss survey; Nitrogen