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Active moss biomonitoring of small-scale spatial distribution of airborne major and trace elements in the Belgrade urban area

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Abstract

In urban environments, human exposure to air pollutants is expected to be significantly increased, especially near busy traffic streets, street canyons, tunnels, etc. where urban topography and microclimate may additionally cause poor air conditions giving rise to pollution hotspots. As a practical and cost-effective approach, active moss biomonitoring survey of some major and trace element air pollution was performed in the Belgrade street canyons and city tunnel in 2011 with the aim to evaluate possibility of using Sphagnum girgensohnii moss bags for investigation of the small-scale vertical and horizontal distribution patterns of the elements. In five street canyons, the moss bags were hung at heights of about 4, 8 and 16 m, during 10 weeks, and also, for the same time, the moss bags were exposed in the tunnel, in front of and out of it. After the exposure period, the concentrations of Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sr, V and Zn in the moss were determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. According to the results, in all street canyons, the vertical distribution patterns of the moss elements concentration (Al, Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sr, V and Zn) showed statistically significant decrease from the first to the third heights of bags exposure. In the tunnel experiment, from inner to out of the tunnel, for Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K and Zn, decreasing trend of concentrations was obtained. Significantly higher concentration of the elements was pronounced for the tunnel in comparison with the street canyons. The results indicate that the use of S. girgensohnii moss bags is a simple, sensitive and inexpensive way to monitor the small-scale inner city spatial distribution of airborne major and trace element content.

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Acknowledgments

This study was realised as a part of the project No III43007 financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia within the framework of integrated and interdisciplinary research for the period 2011–2014, as well as in the frame of bilateral cooperation with Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia. The work is accomplished with the great help and understanding of City Assembly of Belgrade, City Secretariat for Environmental Protection, City Secretariat for Transport and Commercial Court of Belgrade.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Gordana Vuković, Mira Aničić Urošević & Milica Tomašević

  2. The Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Ivana Razumenić & Aleksandar Popović

  3. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia

    Zoya Goryainova & Marina Frontasyeva

Authors
  1. Gordana Vuković
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  2. Mira Aničić Urošević
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  3. Ivana Razumenić
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  4. Zoya Goryainova
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  5. Marina Frontasyeva
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  6. Milica Tomašević
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  7. Aleksandar Popović
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Correspondence to Mira Aničić Urošević.

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Responsible editor: Elena Maestri

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Vuković, G., Aničić Urošević, M., Razumenić, I. et al. Active moss biomonitoring of small-scale spatial distribution of airborne major and trace elements in the Belgrade urban area. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 5461–5470 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1561-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1561-9

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