Skip to Main Content
-
Elemental atmospheric pollution assessment via moss-based measurements in Portland, Oregon
Author(s): Demetrios Gatziolis; Sarah Jovan; Geoffrey Donovan; Michael Amacher; Vicente Monleon
Date: 2016
Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-938. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 55 p.
Publication Series: General Technical Report (GTR)
Station: Pacific Northwest Research Station
PDF: Download Publication (12.0 MB)Related Research Highlights
PNW-2016-262Tree Moss can be Used as an Inexpensive Bioindicator of Air Pollution in Complex Urban Environments Description
Mosses accumulate pollutants from the atmosphere and can serve as an inexpensive screening tool for mapping air quality and guiding the placement of monitoring instruments. We measured 22 elements using 346 moss samples collected across Portland, Oregon, in December 2013. Our objectives were to develop citywide maps showing concentrations of each element in moss and identify potential air pollution “hotspots.” We used simple dot maps, histograms, and summary statistics to describe the distribution of each element. Fifteen metals had highly right-skewed distributions, indicating high metal concentrations (relative to concentrations mea-sured in our dataset) in moss at one or more locations. These metals included high-priority toxics such as cadmium, nickel, lead, and arsenic. Past research shows that element concentrations in moss reflect atmospheric concentrations, although the strength of these relationships varies by element and is unknown for the elements we sampled. Therefore, atmospheric concentrations would need to be measured by an air quality monitor in order to determine whether hotspots suggested by the moss indicator are problematic or pose a health risk. We provide the raw data for all elements we measured to enable scientists, regulators, and citizens to further investigate the importance and possible sources of moss-identified hotspots.Publication Notes
- Visit PNW's Publication Request Page to request a hard copy of this publication.
- We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
- This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
Citation
Gatziolis, Demetrios; Jovan, Sarah; Donovan, Geoffrey; Amacher, Michael; Monleon, Vicente. 2016. Elemental atmospheric pollution assessment via moss-based measurements in Portland, Oregon. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-938. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 55 p.Keywords
Bioindicators, moss, heavy metals, air quality, mapping, sampling.Related Search
- Of moss and men: Using moss as a bioindicator of toxic heavy metals at the city scale
- Moss as bio-indicators of human exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Portland, OR
- Using an epiphytic moss to identify previously unknown sources of atmospheric cadmium pollution
XML: View XML
Show More
Show Fewer
https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/51076