RT Dissertation/Thesis
T1 A critical evaluation of the use of the moss technique to monitor air pollution
A1 Boquete Seoane, María Teresa
A2 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Celular e Ecoloxía, 
A2 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Facultade de Bioloxía, 
K1 Biomonitorización pasiva
K1 Musgos terrestres
K1 Metales pesados
K1 Calidad del aire
K1 Deposición atmosférica
AB Passive biomonitoring with terrestrial mosses, i.e. the “moss biomonitoring technique”, constitutes auseful tool for the study of the atmospheric deposition of heavy metals. However, it has limitations,some of which have been deeply assessed in this doctoral thesis. Thus, the temporal variability of theconcentrations of several nutrients and pollutants in Pseudoscleropodium purum and the effect of growthon the concentrations of elements in segments of different ages of P. purum have been assessed(Chapters I and II respectively). Besides, the possible development of differences in the accumulationcapacities of mosses that have grown in environments under different levels of pollution (Chapter III),and the relationship between the concentrations of several heavy metals in mosses and in bulkdeposition (Chapters IV, V and VI), have also been discussed. Finally, despite the limitations found inthe first part of this thesis (Chapters I to VI), it has been demonstrated that the technique enablesresearchers to distinguish between contaminated and uncontaminated sites, to identify small scalepollution sources, and to map spatial and temporal patterns of the atmospheric heavy metal depositionHowever, its application in environmental policy making is still limited due to the lack of a reliable,scientifically rigorous and homogenized protocol for the technique. Therefore a critical review of theavailable literature on passive biomonitoring with terrestrial mosses has been made (Chapter VII) inorder to propose a protocol, as harmonised as possible, based on the results of the methodologicalstudies published to date.Therefore, it can be concluded in the basis of all the results presented in this thesis, together withpreviously reported findings, that passive biomonitoring studies with terrestrial mosses providequalitative and/or semi-quantitative rather than quantitative information. Interpretation of the resultsof this type of study must therefore be reconsidered; however, this does not mean that the informationobtained is not useful. Such reconsideration, together with true harmonization of the technique (bypublication of a protocol exclusively based on scientific criteria), should bridge the gap between thescientific application of the technique and its application in environmental policy making.
YR 2015
FD 2015-05-19
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/13339
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/13339
LA eng
DS Minerva
RD 27 abr 2026