Abstract
This research used moss biomonitoring to assess the atmospheric deposition of selected trace metals across the whole territory of Albania, a country of diverse lithology, and topography. Here, we assess three elements (Cr, Ni, and Co) that were identified in high concentrations compared to values reported by European moss surveys of 2010 and 2015. The possibility of element uptake by moss from substrate soils was assessed by analyzing moss and topsoil samples from the same areas. For this purpose, moss (Hypnum cupressiforme (Hedw.)) and topsoil samples were collected throughout Albania. Higher concentrations of elements in moss were found in areas of very high element content in soil characterized by no/or thin humus layer and sparse vegetation that stimulates soil dust generation. To compensate for the natural variation of the elements and to show their anthropogenic variation, geochemical normalization was conducted as the ratio of Co, Cr, and Ni concentration data to be concentration. Associations between elements in moss and soil samples, investigated by Spearman-Rho correlation analysis, indicated strong and significant correlations (r > 0.81, p = 0.000) between elements’ data in moss or soil, and weak or no correlations (r < 0.4, p > 0.05) between the same data of moss and soil. Factor analysis revealed two main factors that selectively affect the elements in moss and top soil samples. Findings from this research suggested negligible interactions between moss and substrate soils, with the exception of soils with high concentrations of elements.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This work was supported by the University of Tirana, Faculty of Natural Sciences through the grants for 2-year projects for science that cover the expenses for sampling, chemical analysis, and the publication of research papers. The authors declare that no other funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.
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All authors contributed to the study’ conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by PL and AK. LB was responsible for sampling of all moss and soil samples. The first draft of the manuscript was written by PL, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. FQ actively participated in manuscript revision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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We declare that the work described here has not been previously published or submitted to a preprint server prior to submission on Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, and is not under consideration for publication anywhere else. All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee. All authors agree to participate in this research. They have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Qarri, F., Kika, A., Bekteshi, L. et al. Are Mosses Used in Atmospheric Trace Metal Deposition Surveys Impacted by Their Substrate Soils? A National Study in Albania. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 84, 400–412 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-023-00988-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-023-00988-1