Determination of heavy metal deposition in forests by use of modelling and moss biomonitoring
Atmospheric deposition of elements such as heavy metals, to which environmental systems are exposed, can be determined by means of technical samplers, biological samplers such as moss and deposition modelling. This article aims at comparing heavy metal deposition as computed by two chemical transport models with empiric measurements of respective concentrations in moss collected in 2005. For Cd and Pb, the correlations (Spearman) were between 0.31 and 0.81 across Europe and across Germany. Thereby, highest correlations were determined for specific land use classes. For As, Cr, Cu, Ni, V and Zn lower correlations were found. It could be shown that heavy metals emission inventories should be complemented by spatial and ecosystem type-specific biomonitoring with moss and modelling at high spatial resolution. This should apply even if emission and atmospheric deposition of heavy metal are low since heavy metals are persistent and, therefore, accumulate in ecosystems.
Bestimmung von Schwermetalleinträgen in Waldgebiete mit Modellierung und Moosmonitoring