In the Proceedings of Abstracts 11th International Conference on Air Quality Science and Application

This study aims to determine the sample preparation factors affecting metal distribution in moss biomonitor Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. as well as the factors altering the membrane integrity following a simulated atmospheric nanopollution. The moss samples were exposed to a suspension of nano-ZnO after various pre-treatments, dried in an oven or ambient air and subjected to sequential elution followed by ICP-AES analysis in order to determine the amount of accumulated zinc in the surface, extracellular, intracellular and residual fractions. Simultaneously, potassium concentrations in the fractions were determined to assess the integrity of the membranes. Washing and continuous irrigation affected the Zn distribution the most, the potassium extra/intracellular ratio was affected strongly by the pre-exposure drying and postexposure oven drying – as evaluated by ANOVA. If the monitoring survey strategy is to determine the distribution of the pollutant in the moss biomonitor, it is, hence, recommended not to subject the samples to water prior to the exposure and not to dry them in the oven afterwards.