CARRYING OUT INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS: BIOMONITORING THE DISTRIBUTION OF ELEMENT CONCENTRATIONS IN MOSS ACROSS THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Forest pleurocarpous mosses have been used for large-scale bioindication of atmospheric deposition loads of elements in Scandinavia since the late 1960s (Åke Rühling, University of Lund, Sweden and others). Countries in other parts of Europe, including the Czech Republic, joined the moss-monitoring campaigns at beginning of the 1990s. Since 2000, the European biomonitoring programme has been included in the Heavy Metals in Mosses section of the UNECE ICP-Vegetation international cooperation programme, which has been coordinated by the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, U.K. (http://icpvegetation.ceh.ac.uk/). Since 2014, the international moss monitoring programme „Heavy Metals in Mosses“ is going to be coordinated by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russian Federation.

At the end of the 1980s, the former AAS laboratory of VÚKOZ Pruhonice was contracted to determine 10 elements in moss Pleurozium schreberi growing near an integrated monitoring station maintained by the Hydrometeorological Institute. Since 1992, the staff of the department of Biomonitoring has carried out national moss-monitoring programmes to provide Czech data for the database of the European monitoring campaigns and associated activities.

• The first European and Czech campaigns for determining element concentrations in moss (1990/1991).

The AAS laboratory was invited to join the first European moss-monitoring programme in 1991. Thirty-three moss samples (Pleurozium schreberi -78% of the sites and Polytrichum formosum - 12% of the sites) were collected in Bohemia, and the concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Se, V and Zn were determined using AAS methods. The monitoring results were presented in a research report [1]. The Czech results were included in the European report ([2], Fig. 1) and in a research paper on the metal concentration gradient in moss in central Europe [3].

[1] Suchara I. et al. (1994): Určení úrovně znečištění významných lesních oblastí ČR kovy pomocí analýzy mechů a lesního humusu.- Výr. Zpr., Projekt MŽP ČR GA/1171/93, ms., VÚOZ Průhonice, 57 p.

[2] Rühling Ǻ. (ed.) (1994): Monitoring of atmospheric heavy-metal deposition in Europe – estimations based on moss analysis.- Nord (Nordic Council of Ministers) 1994, 9: 1–53.

[3] Markert B. et al. (1996): A comparison of heavy metal deposition in selected Eastern European countries using the moss monitoring method, with special emphasis on the ´Black Triangle´.- Sci. Total Environ. 193: 85–100.

• Second European and Czech campaigns for determinating element concentrations in moss (1995/1996)

A basic network of 192 permanent moss monitoring plots (no. 1–192) was established across the Czech Republic. The plots have been utilised in subsequent monitoring campaigns ( Fig. 2). Moss samples were collected at 196 sites (Pleurozium schreberi 82%, Hypnum cupressiforme 10% and Scleropodium purum 8%) and the concentrations of Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mo, Ni, Pb, S, V and Zn were determined using the AAS and OES-MS methods. Additionally, Hg concentrations were determined in the samples (analyser AMA 254). The moss monitoring results were published in a Czech national survey ([4], Fig. 3) and the synoptic results were published in [5]. The Czech moss monitoring data was included in the European moss survey [6].

[4] Sucharová J., Suchara I. (1998): Biomonitoring of the atmospheric deposition of metals and sulphur compounds using moss analysis in the Czech Republic. Results of international biomonitoring programme 1995.- VÚOZ Průhonice, 183 p.

[5] Sucharová J., Suchara I. (1998): Atmospheric deposition levels of chosen elements in the Czech Republic determined in the framework of the international bryomonitoring program 1995.- Sci. Total Environ. 223: 37–52.

[6] Rühling Å., Steinnes E. (eds.) (1998): Atmospheric heavy metal deposition in Europe 1995-1996.- Nord, (Nordic Council of Ministers), 1998, 15: 1–66.

• Third European and Czech campaigns for determining element concentrations in moss (2000/2001)

Moss samples were collected at 250 forest plots (Pleurozium schreberi 90%, Scleropodium purum 6%, Eurhynchium angustirete1,6 %, Brachythecium rutabulum1,6 %, Brachythecium salebrosum 0,8%) and the concentrations of Ag, Al, As, Ba, Be, Bi, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Ga, Hg, In, La, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Pr, Rb, S, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr, Th, Tl, U, V, Y and Zn were determined using ICP-OES, ICP-MS and AMA 254 analysers. Total nitrogen was determined using the Kjeldahl distillation method. The results were presented in a two-piece Czech national report ([7], [8], Fig. 4 and Fig. 5), and the main moss monitoring results were published in [9] and [10]. The national results were included in the European monitoring survey [11] (Fig. 6).

[7] Sucharová J., Suchara I. (2004): Bio-monitoring the atmospheric deposition of elements and their compounds using moss analysis in the Czech Republic. Results of the international bio-monitoring programme UNECE ICP-Vegetation 2000. Part I: Elements required for the bio-monitoring programme.- Acta Průhoniciana 77: 1–135.

[8] Suchara I., Sucharová J., Holá M. (2007): Bio-monitoring the atmospheric deposition of elements using moss analyses in the Czech Republic. Results of the international bio-monitoring programme UNECE ICP-Vegetation 2000. Part II Optional elements for the bio-monitoring programme.- Acta Pruhoniciana 87: 1–186.

[9] Suchara I., Sucharová J. (2004): Current atmospheric deposition loads and their trends in the Czech Republic determined by mapping the distribution of moss element contents.- J. Atm. Chem. 49: 503–519.

[10] Sucharová J., Suchara I. (2004): Current multi-element distribution in forest epigeic moss in the Czech Republic – a survey of the Czech national biomonitoring programme 2000.- Chemosphere 57: 1389–1398.

[11] Buse A. et al. (eds.) (2003): Heavy metals in European mosses: 2000/2001 survey.- Centre Ecol. and Hydrol., Bangor, U.K., 45 p.

• Fourth European and Czech campaigns for determining element concentrations in moss (2005/2006)

Across the Czech Republic, 282 moss samples were collected (Pleurozium schreberi 92%, Scleropodium purum 5%, Brachythecium rutabulum 3%) and using OES-ICP, ICP-MS and ICP-AES analysers the concentrations of Ag, Al, As, Ba, Be, Bi, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Ga, In, La, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Pr, Rb, S, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr, Th, Tl, U, V, Y and Zn were determined. Total concentrations of Hg and N were also found. The commented results were published in a Czech national survey ([12], Fig. 7) and the results were included in a European survey of the biomonitoring campaign 2005/2006 [13]. Some special research papers evaluating the moss surveys were published, e.g., [14] and [15].

[12] Sucharová J. et al. M. (2008): Contents of 37 elements in moss and their temporal and spatial trends in the Czech Republic during the last 15 years. Fourth Czech bio-monitoring survey pursued in the framework of the international programme UNECE ICP-Vegetation 2005/2006.- VÚKOZ, Průhonice, 96 p.

[13] Harmens H. et al. (2008): Spatial and temporal trends in heavy metal accumulation in mosses in Europe (1990-2005). - Centre Ecol. and Hydrol., Bangor., U.K., 51 p.

[14] Harmens H. et al. (2010): Mosses as biomonitors of atmospheric heavy metal deposition: Spatial patterns and temporal trends in Europe.- Environ. Pollut. 158: 3144–3156.

[15] Schroeder W. et al. (2010): Are cadmium, lead and mercury concentrations in mosses across Europe primarily determined by atmospheric deposition of these metals?- J. Soils Sediments 10: 1572–1584.

• Fifth European and Czech campaigns for determining element concentrations in moss (2010/2011)

In 2010, moss samples were collected at 273 sampling plots (Pleurozium schreberi 90%, Scleropodium purum 7%, Brachythecium sp. 3%). The collected moss samples were analysed and concentration of about 40 chemical elements was determined. The moss data from the the Fifth European Monitoring Programme for the Czech Republic were sent to the biomonitoring database in CEH Bangor.

The results of the national bio-monitoring campaigns show a decreasing trend in Pb concentrations in moss in the Czech Republic between 1995 and 2005 – see Fig. 8.

The tight correlation between the concentrations of the investigated elements in moss determined in the Czech Republic and the modelled (EMEP) atmospheric deposition loads of these elements is documented in Fig. 9.

In Figure 10 and Figure 11 is depicted the change in distribution of the arsenic concentrations in moss in Europe between 1990 and 2000.