Nitrogen concentrations in mosses indicate the spatial distribution of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in Europe
2011
Harmens, H. | Norris, D.A. | Cooper, D.M. | Mills, G. | Steinnes, E. | Kubin, E. | Thöni, L. | Aboal, J.R. | Alber R., | Carballeira, A. | Coşkun, M. | De Temmerman, L. | Frolova, M. | González-Miqueo, L. | Jeran, Z. | Leblond, S. | Liiv, S. | Maňkovská, B. | Pesch, R. | Poikolainen, J. | Rühling, Å | Santamaria, J.M. | Simonèiè, P. | Schröder, W. | Suchara, I. | Yurukova, L. | Zechmeister, H.G.
In 2005/6, nearly 3000 moss samples from (semi-)natural location across 16 European countries were collected for nitrogen analysis. The lowest total nitrogen concentrations in mosses (<0.8%) were observed in northern Finland and northern UK. The highest concentrations (≥1.6%) were found in parts of Belgium, France, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. The asymptotic relationship between the nitrogen concentrations in mosses and EMEP modelled nitrogen deposition (averaged per 50 km × 50 km grid) across Europe showed less scatter when there were at least five moss sampling sites per grid. Factors potentially contributing to the scatter are discussed. In Switzerland, a strong (r² = 0.91) linear relationship was found between the total nitrogen concentration in mosses and measured site-specific bulk nitrogen deposition rates. The total nitrogen concentrations in mosses complement deposition measurements, helping to identify areas in Europe at risk from high nitrogen deposition at a high spatial resolution.
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